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Class _JlSlii 
Book_______ 

COPffilGRT DEPOSIT. 



BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS AND RODMAN 




Admiral Sir David Beatty, R.N., (J.C.iJ., (i.(\\ O., D.S.O. 

('omniander-in-Chief of the (irand Fleet 

(Aulofiniplu'cl for llu' aullior ;il I In- Adiiiirnl's lionic in AlMnhmr, Sotliimi, 
sltortlv afirr tlic siirmidtT of tin- (iormaii Kki't) 



BEATTY, JELLICOE, 
SIMS AND RODMAN 

Yankee Gobs and British Tars, 
as Seen by an * Anglomaniac' 

BY 

LIEUT. FRANCIS T. HUNTER 

United States Navy 




GARDEN CTTY NEW YORK 

DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 
1919 






COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY 

DOUDLEDAY, PAGE A COMPANY 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OP 

TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, 

INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN 



3EC -1 1^1^ 



©CI. A 5 367 4 5 



TO MY 

CAPTAIN AT HOME 

WHO BY HER 

COURAGE, HOPE AND LOVE 

"SENT ME AWAY WITH A SMILE" 

THIS BOOK I LOVINGLY INSCRIBE 



FOREWORD 

Little Captain, 

In one of your less recent letters there is a casual 
remark, little considered by you, or even by me 
until, from a smoldering ember of thought it has 
brightened, sputtered, and at last burst into 
flame. "You will have to write a book," you 
remarked, "to let me share your new experiences." 
Have you forgotten it? Behold the oak, from such 
a tiny acorn! But it is not a "mighty oak," and 
needs defense. 

The wonder is that the fabric holds together at 
all. If, for a moment, you could look back over the 
varying conditions of temperature, climate, hopes, 
misgivings, noises, interruptions, rolls, and pitches 
under which these pages have been written you would 
excuse every irregularity. Furthermore, despite 
their novelty, these experiences present no single 
hero, an author's greatest friend, for you to follow. 

Still, the advantage is mine, for I fear no critics. 
This little work is for you, and after that for others 
who may care for it. Please try to have a pleasant 
time. You feel doubtful — but you know all jour- 
neys to war are doubtful ! 

Above all don't you be a critic! 

F. T. H. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Foreword vii 

Introduction — By Admiral Hugh Rodman xiii 

CUAPTKB 

I. "Toward THE Goal" 3 

II. At Home With Admiral Beatty . 15 

III. Nelsons of To-day 25 

IV. American Admirals at War . . 38 
V. Kings,Queens,and American Jacks 55 

VI. Out of the Water 72 

VII. Backing Beatty 93 

VIII. The American Gob AT War. . . 119 

IX. The Teeth of Beatty's Bulldogs 142 

X. Comrades of the Mists . . . 159 

XI. The Surrender of the German 

Fleet 171 

XII. Homeward Bound 179 

XIII. The Sinking of the German Fleet 197 



uc 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Admiral Sir David Beatty . . Frontispiece 



PAGE 



Rear Admiral Hugh Rodman 16 

Admiral Sir John Jellicoe 17 

Admiral William S. Sims 32 

The Smile that Whipped the German Navy 33 

The Great Union 48 

Part of the American Battle Squadron . . 49 

The Prophesy 64 

Typical North Sea Conditions .... 65 

Admiral Beatty Chatting V/ith the King . 88 

The Submarine Defence Nets in the Firth of 

Forth 88 

Tennis on Admiral Beatty's Court in Aber- 

dour, Scotland 89 

Admiral Rodman and His Four Original 

Captains 89 

"Sixteen Blue!" 89 

A Sea of Thought 104 

Admiral Jellicoe Off Duty 104 

A Bit of Fireworks for the King and Queen of 

Belgium 105 

A Snapshot for the Queen's Collection . . 105 



XI 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAOB 



The Flagship at Attention 105 

Rear Admiral Hugh Rodman 112 

On the New York's Quarterdeck . ... 113 

"Above and Below" 128 

King George Inspects the American Flagship 129 

An Unprecedented Courtesy 144 

Manning the Rail 144 

The Quartermaster's Watch 145 

Admiral Beatty of the Flagship Lion . . 160 

Lieutenant Clifton B. Herd, U.S.N. , and the 

Author 161 

The New York from a Kite Balloon . . . 176 

Steaming in Column 177 

An Important Inspection 192 

The Night Patrol 193 

H.M.S. Revenge 200 

A Surrendered German Submarine . . . 200 

The British Flag on Captured Pirates . . 200 

Their Last Bow . 201 

Comrades to a Finish ; . 201 



INTRODUCTION 

UNITED STATES ATLANTIC FLEET 

BATTLESHIP FORCE TWO 

u. s. s. New Yorky flagship 

April 15, 1919. 
Dear Mr. Hunter: 

It will be a pleasure to comply with the request 
contained in your letter of April 13th for an ex- 
pression of my views, which you are privileged 
to use. 

In reference to the cordial relations which existed 
between the British and American naval forces, I 
was surprised to learn that there had ever been but 
one idea on the subject on the part of any one, in 
or out of the service, for surely to those of us 
whose work during the war was always in close 
contact with the British navy in the war zone, no 
such question ever arose. On the other hand, I 
wish to state most positively and without the 
slightest reservation, that no happier or more cor- 
dial relations could possibly have existed than 
those which obtained between our two navies 
which performed war service together. I served 
directly under the command of Sir David Beatty, 

xiii 



»v' INTRODUCTION 

than whom no better or more gallant and efficient 
leader ever trod the deck of a battleship. 

I have sometimes thought that the close, homo- 
geneous, and brotherly cooperation in the Grand 
Fleet was an example of what two nations could do 
that had a common cause, whose hearts were in 
the right place and in their work, and was an 
example and possibly the incentive which first 
prompted the Allies to place all of their armies un- 
der the command of Marshal Foch, and which, 
as was proved, was the most logical way in which 
to win the war. 

There can be no question that our destroyer 
force did valiant service against the Hun subma- 
rine; that our heavy artillery force — manned by 
naval gunners with its 14-inch guns mounted on 
railway carriages, each throwing a shell that 
weighed 1,400 pounds, and which operated with the 
army at the front — made their presence a dread to 
Hun strongholds which could not otherwise have 
been reached by gunfire; that our mining force in 
the North Sea, by laying a barrage or string of 
mines from the Norwegian coast to the Orkney 
Islands across the North Sea, aided materially by 
adding to the danger of any Hun submarine or sur- 
face craft that might attempt to gain the open 
sea. 

We have every reason to be proud of, and no rea- 
son to regret, the part our navy played in its work 
during the war, and, taking a retrospective view. 



INTRODUCTION xv 

had we to do it again, we would not change one 
iota, which is the strongest proof that the work 
has been well done. When I add that I some- 
times commanded a force with British admirals 
under me, sometimes they commanded me, and 
that no thought of jealousy, no thought of na- 
tionality, no thought of any misunderstanding 
ever arose, you will understand how extremely 
close and brotherly were our relations. 

There has been a good deal of advocacy and dis- 
cussion of the policy of furthering our bond of 
union with the British navy by bringing together a 
part or all of the two fleets for a time at certain 
occasions. I have felt from the first that this 
would be an excellent and most beneficial enter- 
prise, navally and nationally, and that such an 
opportunity for national gain should not be neg- 
lected. I am sure that His Majesty King George 
of Great Britain shares this feeling, for when the 
matter was broached to him he acquiesced very 
strongly and expressed the hope that our fleets 
may meet again yearly in friendly visits, not by a 
written agreement, but by a national and friendly 
desire to perpetuate the deep-rooted, and if I may 
use the word, affectionate relations which have 
obtained between our naval forces. 

Should the time ever come again in the future, 
as it has done in this war, there is no question in 
my mind but that we shall stand together through 
thick and thin, fight together and win together. 



xvi INTRODUCTION 

I consider it an honour to have served under such 
a worthy chief as Admiral Sir David Beatty, 
Commander in Chief of the Grand Fleet. 
Very sincerely, 

Hugh Rodman, 
Rear Admiral, United States Navy. 

Lieutenant F. T. Hunter, U.S.N. 
New Rochelle, N. Y. 



BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS AND RODMAN 



BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, 
AND RODMAN 

CHAPTER I 

"TOWARD THE GOAL" 

ORDERED TO THE "nEW YORK." THE CROSSING OF THE 

AMERICAN BATTLE SQUADRON AND ITS HISTORIC UNION 

WITH THE GRAND FLEET OF BRITAIN 

Where lies the land to which the ship would go ? 
Far, far ahead, is all her seamen know. 
And where the land she travels from ? Away, 
Far, far behind, is all that they can say. 

— Clough. 

TO THE peaceful American of 1914, the 
sunny twenty-eighth of June showed no 
irregularities. The world dozed happily 
in prosperity. Yet on that very day there was 
committed the most momentous crime the world 
has ever known. The Archduke Francis Ferdi- 
nand, heir to the Austrian throne, was murdered in 
Serajevo, the capital of Bosnia, by a Serb. By 
that murder, obscure at the time, the entire geo- 
graphic, political, and social conditions of the face 
of the civilized and uncivilized globe were to be 
altered. Generations unborn would reek in its 

8 



4 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

blood, and generations that had passed would 
turn their heads in awe. Through five long years 
its outcome would so undermine the world that 
every nook and corner, east and west, from pole 
to pole, would be affected so that ages unconceived 
would weigh its blow. 

Incidentally, it affected the tiny life and career 
of me. 

In the Autumn of that epoch-making year, with 
war to us an actual impossibility, the first faint 
zephyrs of a strange east wind could be detected. 
The threatening draughts of such a wind as we 
had never known. A cold and bitter wind, before 
whose blast many a man of us would wither. We 
knew not, nor understood, as we faced the fresh- 
ening gale. 

In 1914 it threatened to stop our international 
sports; it altered commerce. In 1915 it threatened 
the San Francisco Exposition and tied up our 
freight. In 1916 it carried a mad tide of avarice 
that engulfed the land. Horrors of war we had not 
felt. Through these two years no human mind in 
America had been able to adjust itself to the new 
heavens and the new earth which had sprung into 
being at the thunderclap of war. 

Then suddenly, against the misty background of 
that distant war, we felt the Prussian dagger stab. 
The Lusitania I With realization came an out- 
burst of America's two years of pent-up feelings. 
We were insulted by a pirate nation! Treated as 



"TOWARD THE GOAL" 5 

a weakling! Ordered from the seas! Our vessels 
sunk! Our sailors killed in scorn! We came to 
know the German colours as the German knows 
them — ^black, red, and white: Durch Nacht und 
Blut zur Lichtr' (Through night and blood to 
light!) The Germans ground our sword. There 
was but one inevitable course to take. 

On the lucky thirteenth of March, 1917, nearly 
a month before the President actually declared a 
state of war, I was sworn into the United States 
Naval Reserve Force as an ensign, and assigned 
to duty as assistant in establishing a base for sub- 
marine chasers and for training men in New York 
harbour. From a dingy little corner drug store 
and a handful of men, there has evolved the great 
Naval Barracks at Bay Ridge, which at the signing 
of the Armistice, housed 9,000 men. After three 
months duty there, Commander Franklin sent me 
to the first reserve officer's training class at Anna- 
polis for intensive training. A summer hot as 
Hades made up of seventeen-hour days, left me one 
of about a hundred and fifty officers considered 
fit for sea. Far were we from fitted, as sad exper- 
ience later taught, but so at least we were con- 
sidered. 

On the fifteenth of September I was ordered to 
the New York. It was pure chance to draw an 
ace, for at that time no one even knew that the 
New York would go over. My lucky star was 
shining. After two months of cruising on the 



C BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

Atlantic coast we were ordered suddenly, and 
secretly, to the Brooklyn Navy Yard for prepara- 
tion. There followed a hectic week. Although 
we knew what it meant, it was almost too much to 
grasp. The days tore by until, on the hazy driz- 
zling afternoon of November 22nd, enshrouded 
in a veil of mist, we steamed under the great East 
River spans to the sea. The Ninth Division of 
the Atlantic Fleet, under Rear Admiral Rodman, 
on his flagship, the New York, made rendezvous 
at Linnhaven Roads on November 24th. Twelve 
hours later four great anchors hove in sight, and 
eight huge funnels furiously belched black, as 
sixteen propellers took up a droning throb that 
for days to come we knew would be incessant. 
The line of steaming monsters laid their course 
northeast. 

The first days of that memorable passage were 
marked more with sentiment than interest. But 
the morning of the twenty-ninth foretold a dif- 
ferent tale. My watch commenced at midnight 
under a big yellow moon. At two a. m. a nasty 
ring showed clearly around it, growing more and 
more intense. At three the breeze hauled easterly 
and scud began to fly. It looked like a nasty rainy 
day ahead. We were about a hundred miles off the 
Grand Banks of Newfoundland and expecting 
poor weather, but when I noticed, at four a. m. 
that the barometer had been dropping at the rate 
of .07 an hour and that the thickening scud was 



"TOWARD THE GOAL" 7 

driving low, I felt we were in for something 
bad. 

I awakened at ten to the heavy plunging of the 
ship. It was dark weather, and blowing a moder- 
ate gale. Spray, rain, and hail drove past the 
port, and thinking it would not last I felt glad of 
no watch until six. At two o'clock, the barometer 
had fallen to 29.00 and the wind increased to 60 
miles. At three the barometer read 28.93 and 
the wind registered 70. At six, bundled like an 
Esquimau, I made for the veranda deck, Guns 
20 and 21, to take the watch. 

Not until the thing actually hits one, can a real 
storm be appreciated. Without any exaggerated 
attempt at description, without any hysterical 
effort to portray, the wild fury of this North 
Atlantic hurricane may be best brought out by a 
£ew details. Captain Hughes has been at sea for 
thirty years. In the navy and out, he has plied 
the seven seas. On two occasions only, he said, 
has he seen the equal of this storm. Both were 
typhoons in the China Sea. 

Approaching the deck I was warned to use care, 
for the wind registered over ninety miles an hour. 
I scarcely believed it. A breath on deck convinced 
me. Solid green spray prevented more than 
fifteen feet of vision from a protected spot; while 
in the open, eyes were valueless. To walk was 
utterly impossible. Dragging along on hands and 
knees I gained the shelter of the second turret, and 



8 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

found a five-inch gun crew huddled there, afraid 
to risk the trip to their hatchway. A foot of 
water swept constantly over the deck, carrying all 
before it. By forming a human chain I sent the 
men below and secured the guns, which of course 
were rendered useless. To think of manning one 
of these outside guns was ridiculous, and as our 
gun deck had been drowned out and secured hours 
before, the ship's great battery was now one use- 
less mass of junk. At many points we were taking 
water, but the serious side did not impress us. Of 
course this sort of thing couldn't last! 

The seas continued to mount, and were breaking 
on board with each plunge. The terrific roar on 
deck had become deafening. Shouting directly 
into a man's ear was of no avail against the wild 
shriek of this tempest as it drove through our rig- 
ging. Each wire acted like a steam whistle. I 
have never heard such a noise. Even the thund- 
ering crash of a sea, showering tons of water on us 
from stem to stern, was lost. And this same water, 
forcing into every conceivable opening, rushed 
below in most alarming volume. For half an hour 
I managed to stay in the lee of that turret. Look- 
ing up toward the bridge I could see streams of 
brilliant phosphorus pass overhead, cast up from the 
bow with the sheets of green sea. It carried clear 
over our bridge and funnels. Often the water 
was knee deep where I stood, a rushing cataract. 

Word came at last to abandon all gun watches 



"TOWARD THE GOAL" 9 

and I lay below. It was Thanksgiving night. A 
banquet was in progress in our mess, far from 
the raging storm. Admiral Rodman was our guest. 
It was well that we relished that meal, for it was 
destined to be our last for quite some time. We 
could hear the dull whistling roar above; feel the 
shock of the pounding seas; brace ourselves against 
each pitch and roll. But it was Thanksgiving 
night, and the spirit of the feast continued, noth- 
ing daunted. 

The night proved sleepless. The frightful 
weather did not abate, it increased. A heavy 
roll had joined the pitch, and things began to 
happen. We were absolutely unprepared for such 
conditions. The music cabinet and phonograph 
capsized with a crash, followed shortly by the 
clattering smash of all drawers of silverware and 
table gear as they dropped bodily on the deck. 
Just as we were getting things secured the huge ice- 
chest went over with a shock that would have 
gone clear through an ordinary deck. Meat, 
grease, milk, vegetables, fruit — all swishing around 
now in the salt water which covered our lower deck ! 
Tables and chairs slashed from side to side of the 
mess room, carrying all before them. Many of 
the mess were seasick now — which added nothing 
pleasant ! 

Toward morning the water was ankle deep in 
my cabin. Reports began to come down from 
above. Wireless topmasts had carred away, des- 



10 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

troying the upper aerials. Port lifeboat was bat- 
tered in. Bow stanchions snapped off at the deck, 
and worst of all, the forward hatches had sprung. 
Tons of water poured down at every opening. 
Three hundred men were working on the leaks 
with small success. We had no ventilation at all 
below decks. iVt four a. m. we had six inches 
of water in the forward storerooms. At eight 
A. M. we had eight feet. The gun deck was lit- 
erally afloat, for the gun shutters had been sprung 
by the terrific pressure. All pumps were working 
to capacity. 

We had slowed to eight, then four knots speed, 
and turned to quarter the seas. Actually, we 
were losing headway, as the hundred-mile gale 
drove us like a toy across the Grand Banks. The 
squadron held together remarkably well. Dela- 
ware was forced to run before it and we lost her for 
the time. Our one destroyer, Manley, could 
scarcely keep afloat, but drifted off to the south- 
ward. We never saw her again. Wyoming and 
Florida were in our general vicinity from start to 
finish. 

That night we all decided it had been a grave 
mistake not to wait for the draft ! Soaking clothes 
were brought below and dropped in heaps. Food 
rotted in six inches of dirty swishing water, 
while cooking was impossible. And we had no 
ventilation. With boots still on, and caked with 
salt, most of us slept from exhaustion. Just 



"TOWARD THE GOAL" 11 

before suffocation, it seemed, some one wakened 
me. You could cut the air with a knife! Every- 
thing and everybody seemed to have gone sour. 
The combers were monstrous now, rolhng the 
great ship througli an arc of fifty degrees, under 
her very decks. The air was one mass of bhnding 
spray, so we had seen no other ship for two days. 
At one o'clock the seriousness of the situation 
dawned on us when word came that we were tak- 
ing more water than we were clearing. The ship 
was down by the head. On order from the Com- 
mander all hands turned-to, formed bucket- 
brigades, and for five long hours bailed for their 
lives ! Bending every effort, we gradually checked 
the increase, and held our own. Then finally, 
toward evening, the fury of the hurricane abated 
just enough to satisfy the pumps. The strain 
began to tell heavily on the crew, whose quarters 
were unbearable. The heat from the engine and 
fire rooms was bottled up aft, where it combined 
with the galley fumes to make a veritable inferno. 
The thermometer registered 115 degrees in that 
vile air which men were forced to live in ! 

At six o'clock the Captain announced the danger 
past, to the great relief of all. The bow had suf- 
red badly, inside and out. Our forward cabins 
had been drenched and storerooms soaked. Twelve 
thousand pounds of sugar, five hundred gallons of 
paint, and five hundred gas masks were ruined, 
together with a storeroom full of clothing. We 



12 BEATTT, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

were far behind our schedule, but could, at eight- 
een knots, still make our rendezvous with British 
cruisers as appointed. Next morning, one week 
out, we found the wind shifted astern, a thirty- 
mile breeze. The storm had broken. By after- 
noon we had come into the glorious blue of the 
Gulf Stream and were righting conditions below 
decks. Of all the perils of this voyage, we had 
considered least of all the elements. And the 
elements had actually threatened to frustrate the 
expedition. 

Tense moments were ours a few days later! We 
were nearing the goal, had entered the danger zone, 
and were steaming directly for our rendezvous. 
We had gone on a northern arc, only about three 
hundred miles from Iceland. Both sun and stars 
failed to appear, so we had no sights to reckon by. 
Would we hit our mark? If Neptune showed 
his wrath against our plans, Diana and Aurora 
gave us, at the proper moment, all they had in 
compensation. At five o'clock on the morning of 
December seventh, the moon broke through; and 
the clouds, which had shielded us in their foggy 
folds from submarines for three whole days and 
nights, drifted completely away. The watches 
had been doubled. On the horizon, in the moon- 
light, there suddenly appeared a form, low and 
sleek. Scarcely had we trained our threatening 
guns when there came from this strange form a 
blinking light: AF — ^AF — ^AF our coded call letters. 



"TOWARD THE GOAL" 13 

We answered. She gave the recognition. It was 
the British Hght cruiser Constance, at her appointed 
place of rendezvous. Here was a glorification of 
modern navigation! Five days without sights, 
reckoning from course and engine room, at the 
end of a three-thousand mile voyage with not a few 
vicissitudes, we had struck the very centre of our 
aim! Ten destroyers appeared from somewhere 
in space, formed around us, and we breathed relief 
as we fell into line behind the Constance to enter 
Pentland Firth. If a submarine could have come 
through the protection which those destroyers 
threw about us, then nothing could have stopped 
a submarine. 

A glorious golden dawn inspired our entrance to 
the firth. Hills blending with the clouds, purple 
and gold, reflected a wealth of sparkling colours 
in the frothy white below. Between the fantastic 
cliffs passed our stately array; then sharply turned 
our column to the left. We entered Scapa Flow. 
Through the open gates of layers and layers of nets 
we wound our way, cheered by the crew of every 
patrol drifter as we passed. And then, as we 
cleared the inner nets, and looked for the first 
time on the world's most stupendous sea force, 
realizing at last that we were actively a part of it, 
a thrill ran through and through each man of us. 
The Grand Fleet of Britain! How dignified, 
how powerful it looked! We neared Sir David 
Beatty's flagship as assigned, and when our 



14 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

anchors plunged into the flow, three mighty cheers 
went up from Beatty's Queen Elizabeth. It was 
a history-making day; a day which was to bind, 
perhaps for ever, the EngHsh-speaking peoples 
of the earth. In conclusion I can do no better 
than to quote that celebrated British naval writer 
*'Bartimeus" on the subject of this union, for he 
presents the British view: 

Only a few weeks had elapsed since they arrived, rust- 
streaked and travel-stained, as ships might well be that had 
battled through one winter gale after another from Chesa- 
peake Bay to Ultima Thule and at the sight of them the 
gray, war-weary Battle Fleet of Britain burst into a roar 
of welcome such as had never before greeted a stranger 
within its gates in either peace or war. For — and herein 
lies the magic of the thing — they were not merely allies 
swinging up on to the flank of a common battle-line, but kins- 
men joining kinsmen as an integral part of one fleet. The 
rattle of their cables through the hawse pipes was drowned 
by the tumult of cheering, and forthwith the American ad- 
miral dispatched a telegram to Washington, whose laconic 
business-like brevity alone did justice to what may prove 
one of the most significant messages of history: "Arrived as 
per schedule," it said. 



CHAPTER II 

AT HOME WITH ADMIRAL BEATTY 

(a letter to the author's father) 

To tread the paths of death he stood prepared. 
And what he greatly thought he nobly dared. 

U. S. S. New York, 
Flagship European Waters, 

25th May, '18. 

SUPPOSING that on one of our talks in your 
office a little more than a year ago I had 
said something of this sort: "Well, Dad, 
whatever I decide won't be very permanent. A 
year from now it will be all changed. I shall be 
distant half the globe, commissioned in the navy 
by the President and detailed on the American 
flagship with the Grand Fleet. Six months at war, 
I will have dodged torpedoes off The Naze of Nor- 
way; chased the flying German High Seas Fleet 
into the Kiel Canal; flown over the battlefields of 
France; and witnessed air raids on Boulogne and 
London. I shall have met the flower of England's 
rule in visiting many castles in the north; have 
held most interesting chats with such men as Sir 
William Robertson, General Montgomery, Lord 

15 



16 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

Ciirzon, Col. the Marquis of Linlithgow, Sir Percy 
Girouard, and a score of lords and ladies and peers- 
to-be. Further, I shall count among my friends 
(because of the peculiar interest he has shown me) 
the greatest of them all, our smashing young Com- 
mander-in-Chief, Grand Admiral Sir David 
Beatty." 

What would you have said to that? Sometimes 
I like to think that Richard Carvel would have 
been no more fortunate, had his fictitious career 
been staged in this war instead of Revolutionary 
times. But that is neither here nor there. What 
I want to talk about is the personality and char- 
acter of our truly great commander, as he has im- 
pressed me. Yes, the impression is very deep. The 
more so when you realize that in his position, at 
this critical time and with his peerless command, 
the Grand Fleet, he requires but a single engage- 
ment with the enemy's main forces to crown him 
the world's second Nelson; to send Sir David 
Beatty crashing down the ladder of time in com- 
pany with such names as Blake, Drake, Ilawke, 
Nelson, and Jones. 

He has earned well his command, and in that 
characteristic manner that has placed him first in 
the hearts of thousands. While in his famous 
Lion (she is lying but a few turns away as I write 
this) he brought his cruising squadron repeatedly 
within sight of the German defenses, four hundred 
miles from his own base. Three times he has en- 




(Q) tlarrit & Ewiim 



]lcjir Admiral Hugh Rodman 



Taken shortly aft it Ik- assumed command of the American 
haltleship forces in the war zone 




Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, R.N., G.C.B., D.S.O. 

Commander-iii-Cliicf of tlu- Graii-I Fh'ct in tlie llatllc of Jutlaml and later 
made First Lord of the IJriLisli Admiralty 



AT HOME WITH ADMIRAL BEATTY 17 

gaged the unwilling enemy on his own terms and 
taken the attendant risks. He appeared on the 
scene of the Heligoland action just in time to ad- 
minister the coup de grace. He drove the reeling 
cruisers from the Dogger Bank, sinking BlUcher 
from his own ship. He assumed the burden of the 
risk at Jutland, and by magnificent manoeuvres 
engaged the entire German fleet with his one squad- 
ron, clinging to them as long as his teeth would 
hold, in order to entangle and detain them until 
the Grand Fleet might come up to victory. Sir 
David Beatty leads because he is a fighter — and 
all Britain knows him as a fighter. 

I am surprised to learn that the admiral is as 
great a tennis enthusiast as you were at his age. 
He is just turned forty-six. Despite his pressing 
cares he makes regular allowance for exercise, and 
as he explained to me, always chooses tennis "be- 
cause it is exercise in a concentrated form, and 
you don't waste valuable hours chasing a miser- 
able, helpless ball over the hills." That remark 
will particularly appeal to you. He was very em- 
phatic in pointing out that golf is not to his fancy. 
Somehow, through the unaccountable course of 
rumours, it reached his ears that an officer in the 
American Squadron played tennis. Accordingly, 
in compliance with a note received by our flag 
secretary, the admiral's barge called at the New 
York on a certain afternoon (the first of May) to 
carry me to the Admiralty House at Aberdour. 



IH ni<:ATT^. .IKM.KOK. SIMS, AND RODMAN 

To my surprise, \vr IknmIcmI lor llic Queen Elizabeth, 
IJcally's (Iji^sliip. ('omi!i<^ .'ilonf^sidc I slarlod to 
(liscmh.irk, bill on molion Irom lli<* ofHccr of llic 
<l('('k I rclrcjilcd ;i<;;iiii lo I lie hhic |)liisli ciisliions 
;iii(i cjirpcls of llie inner c.ihin. I could see every 
nuin on I lie ll.i/^siup's (|u;irlerdeek eonu' sharply 
lo ,'illenlion as ilie i)oaJswaiu\s slnill vvliislle piped 
iroru ahove. A luonieni lalei' I fouiid niysell" in I lie 
j)reseuee of Sir David IJeally. 

"^riie admiral liad eome away alone, Tlu* gold 
))raid llial (laslied before nu' as lie eiilered miohl, 
luive felled an ox! far sooner me, had not his 
ma^iielie personalily piil me immediaiely al ease, 
lie had my name, and used il as he olfered his hand. 
If I had been a earloonisi I should have been dis- 
appointed, for he losi his idenlily a momeiil later 
by removing his cap, always eharaclerisi ieally 
drawn down on his right eye. As we slreakiMl 
Ihrougli the vvaier our eonversalion i)rogressed 
rai)idly. l*'rom leiinis and I he war he si ruck I he 
internal orgaiii/ation of our ships, and I lliink he 
was making I he most of his lime for he was hearing 
things Jiot likely lo eome lo his ears from any olher 
accessible source. He seemed inclined lo lead me 
on, V(Miluring two or three items mosl inlerestingly 
eon(i<lenliaI, which 1 now inlerprel as sorl of as- 
surances on his pari . To liie answer of each of his 
(jueslions he lislened most inlenlly. I doiibl not 
lliat there was a |)ur|)ose behind each of I hem, and 
1 replied as eomi)lelely as i)ossible. In the attitude 



AT HOME WITH ADMIRAL BEATTY 19 

of our men he seemed particularly interested, ask- 
ing in detail concerning my own division. As wc 
sped down the mighty line of ships he had some 
casual remark (usually humorous) in regard to 
each one, which od'-haud revealed at once his mar- 
vellous intimacy with this vast armada. I recol- 
lect gazing at him for moments of time, watching 
the steely flash of his eye or the firm, set lines of 
his mouth and chin; then suddeuly realizing, as he 
bore down on me with some remark or other, that 
there was an impelling, commanding power behind, 
to which I felt i)ride in resi)ouding. 

Sileuce and respect followed Sir David as we 
mountetl the gangway of the Kiug's pcmtoon and 
stepped into his waiting limousine. We were off 
in a jiffy. By this time, let me admit, I began 
to feel a bit inflated and rather like a royal prodi- 
gal. But the admiral gave little chance for reflec- 
tion. As we passed along the waterfront he told 
me the story of the great dockyard and its attend- 
ant "tin city of the war" which, nuishroom-like, 
sprang into existence almost overnight. And he 
expressed grave doubts as to the future of it all, 
holdiug that "what little money may be left after 
the war will be spent about as freely as blood." 
We then took to talking tennis, on which ground I 
felt more solid in spite of my striving to conceal it. 
Thus we arrived at Aberdour. 

Right here my sense of humour served me, for I 
was chuckling inside as I followed Sir David into 



20 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

the lounging room, to the guests. The (rnmd 
Adniinil toting ulong a lowly Ensign! I shall 
never forget the expression I caught as Admiral 
Hodman recognized me. He had lunclied that day 
with Lady Bcally and a parly of guests who were 
still gathered ahouL the fire. I think he know that 
I was expected, but hardly that I shouhl come with 
the Great One himself. I was presented to Lady 
Beatty and eventually reached around the circle to 
Hodman. lie passed a willy remark wln'ch pleased 
me and sent a ripple over the room, and the agony 
was over. After chat ting awhile Connnodorc Bcn- 
tinck arrived with Lieutenant Cleather, a King's 
Messenger. We left to prei)are for the double 
which had been plauned. Nolliing would do but 
that Lady Beatty should see the game. She is 
quite as keen on it as Sir David. 

We were soon ready for the court. (Peter, aged 
eleven, the second son, had escorted me to change 
in his room.) My surprise, as we started to play, 
was well founded, for considering his age and the 
life my partner had led (I was paired with the ad- 
miral) I looked for little real tennis. Few games 
were played, however, before I realized that it was 
real play and that my i)artner was doing all the 
scoi-ing for us. In the confusion of gold lace I lost 
the first set for our side. Perhaps it was well, for 
if all had gone smoothly I should have missed a lot. 
Beatty at once became a bulldog. lie is the same 
fighter on the court as on the sea, and the serious- 



AT HOME WITH ADMIRAL BEATTY 21 

ness of his "do-or-die" remarks brought me up all 
standing. In the second set I let go everything. 
We won it, and after losing the next, rather nar- 
rowly captured the two following. I have seldom 
seen a man more pleased over a tennis game. He 
cheered, slapped me on the back, guyed our op- 
ponents, and thoroughly enjoyed it. To lose doesn't 
enter his thoughts. I remember him saying over 
and over, while we were behind : " Here ! We can't 
let it stand like this; it will never become us to be 
beaten." "No, sir," I would agree, "We're not 
going to lose." The result was that toward the 
end I was literally knocking the cover off the ball 
and going fairly well. But the study of the ad- 
miral proved quite as absorbing as the game. 

After tea (you know the English always have tea 
during their afternoon sport), I had a glimpse of 
another side. In talking to David, Junior, the 
thirteen-year-old son and heir of the admiral, he 
told me of the stunts he is doing with mechanical 
toys. He took me to his playroom where he showed 
me a model "sub" that really dived; a miniature 
Tiger whose turrets actually train; a baby "tank" 
quite complete in detail; perfect little steel dock 
cranes which revolve and lift weights precisely as the 
big ones. The lad is an admiral in the making. He 
already knows as much of the Grand Fleet organiz- 
ation as I do, and speaks several languages. We had 
not been there long when in came the admiral, quite 
tickled to death. He insisted that I must see every- 



22 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

thing, and, indeed, seemed as pleased with the toys 
as his young son. I don't blame him. He put all 
sorts of questions to the kid, who seldom failed in 
his reply. When he did, the admiral became very 
stern. His whole attitude was a sort of construc- 
tive devotion. Neither his duties nor his gold lace 
have made him any the less cliummy with the boy. 

He then led me about the house, to show me his 
wonderful pictures and trophies of the war. They 
are of unique nature and value. The very things 
that have been given him from time to time are 
indicative of the respect he commands. Some of 
his paintings of sea battles are marvellous. Best 
of all is the esteem in which he holds these things, 
which results in each becoming a home tie. In 
fact, the home life at Aberdour is charmingly char- 
acteristic of England's best. It is a case of open 
hospitality and warm hearth, at which each of their 
many guests feels quite at home. In creating this 
atmosphere Lady Beatty (who, by the way, is an 
American) has a share equal to that of her gallant 
husband. 

Late in the afternoon we resumed our game. 
The admiral had had enough, so preferred to play 
with the kids. Lady Beatty and I played a mixed 
double against Bentinck and Lady Marr. It was 
quite a tussle. In England, ladies' tennis is de- 
veloped to an extent never dreamed of in the 
States. They all play, and play remarkably well. 
While we have two or three experts better than any 



AT HOME WITH ADMIRAL BEATTY 23 

one In the world, they have here a whole flight of 
first-class players against whom we have none to 
match. Either Lady Beatty or Lady Marr could 
win over any but perhaps five of our American 
ladies. And they are not the best hereabouts by 
any means. I begin to realize what I have so of- 
ten heard, that ladies' tennis has been sadly ne- 
glected in the States. 

After a quick change, followed by adieus and 
assurances that I should love to repeat the after- 
noon's pleasure, we were spinning again toward 
the dockyard. The admiral's spirits were high 
after his exercise. He talked much of American 
tennis and branched later into the American fleet. 
At the pontoon his barge awaited, as also my 
steamer. But he insisted that I come off with him 
and, after returning to the Queen Elizabeth, sent me 
on to the New York in his barge. 

Alone again, I reflected that I had had a really 
great day. On board the ship I was soon convinced 
that this opinion was shared by many others as 
well. From the captain down I was put through 
such a grill of questions that I began to feel guilty 
of some pleasant crime. It really was immense. 
Even Captain Hughes seemed greatly tickled over 
the affair, offering many remarks on which I still 
reflect. He showed me, indeed, that the experi- 
ence had been as valuable as it had been unusual. 

Admiral Sir David Beatty is as gallant an oflScer 
as ever took a bridge. I tell you it is with proud 



24 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

confidence that I stand ready for his command, 
knowing that spirit wliieli permeates the entire 
Grand Fleet of Britain : 

"Here! We can't let things stand like this. 

It would never become us to be beaten ! " 



CHAPTER III 

NELSONS OF TO-DAY 

PERSONAL OLTMPSES OF BEATTY AND JELLICOE A COM- 
PARISON OF THE TWO GRIOAT ADMIRALS — HOW BEATTY 
PUT TO SEA LIKE DRAKE OF OLD 

Without the great, the small 
Make the trnver but feeble v)all: 
A nd happiest ordered v)ere that state 
Where small are companied with great. 
Where strong are propped by v)eak. 

— Sophocles. 

OUR little adjective "grand," so simply ex- 
pressive, is far more often flippantly mis- 
used than applied with thought. We tack 
it carelessly on to a hotel, a theatre, a corporation, 
or even a person, to arrive conveniently at a designa- 
tion which will imply splendour in the superlative. 
Occasionally, when it is fittingly applied, we realize 
the full signifi(;aMce which it is intended to convey. 
The Grand Fleet! To that unexampled organiza- 
tion of fighting force, the greatest unit of power 
ever assembled by the hand of man, it is indeed 
fittingly applied. A dominating machine of living 
energy backed by walls of steel — miles and miles in 
extent — which has cleared the seven seas of German 
ships and German shipj)ing and kept them clear 

u 



«(•> HKATTY. ,1K1.KI( OE. SIINIS, AND lU)ni\lAN 

lln>>Ui;h Tom- loiii; yo:irs; llio power \vln<-li Ims snvod 
lli(' world llial forco is ijraud! \\ is llic (Jraiid 
FUvl. Oho must stv it, sliidy it, be of it, to IVvl it. 
To fool the nw(» of il, (lie iiisj)iratiou of it and lo 
realize (lie iiilrieacies and lnii;eness of ils eoininaiid. 

In the Coiiimander-in-CMiief of (he (Jraiid V\(\A 
there has Ihhmi lUH'ded nol only I he hii;ht\s| ability 
to eoniniand, and knowledi^e by which this vast 
arnuida niii;hl lu'sl he hai»dl(Ml, but also the power 
lo ins[)ire oIlieiM's and men of e\ tM'y rank and ralinuj 
in the \\cc\ with '/x\\\, eilieicMiey, and devotion, as 
well as nntirinj;' vigilance in the endless wailing* 
for the enemy, lie must hold his command at the 
point of instant readiness for action at all times. 

That excelKMil s(\i. oflieer. Admiral Sir John 
Jellicoe, the (I rand Meet's <'ommander dnrini;' the 
first part of the war, is a man of llu^ hii;h allain- 
miMits recjuiri'd lor his onic<'. The llcci, his organi- 
zation and erealii>n, [)roclaims his ability. In the 
later stai;es of the war, the i;iXNit instrument which 
he had shapetl fell to the charge of Sir David 
Beatty. 

Around these two outstandiui;' figures then, 
Beatty and Jellicoe, all discussion of the naval 
aspects of the i;reat war revolves. They are men 
of utterly dilhM-ent types. 1 have observed each 
of them with an inliM-csl bordering;' on sludy, and 
have heard IIkmu discusscnl by dozens of ollicers 
of the (^irand b'leel. l^wlly |)rimarily is a fii^hter; 
Jellicoe, a student. To such a marked degree is 



NKI.SONS OF TO-DAY 27 

lliis f:vifl<;ril lliiil. Ill fonlnislj'ng llu^in an aullior- 
il.y on IJrilisli n;i,v;i.l ulYiuvH luis sn'ul: "In power 
ol" inl.cllircl, ;i,ruJ In kn()wl<;fl;^(; of Ills [>roj'(;.s,siori 
.l(;Ilico<r is a (loz(;n pljincs a}>ov<; IJealt.y. And yet 
vvlK^n it <roin(;M to fighting, in smjill tilings and in 
great, B(?atty lias an instincjt for tin^ rl;^lit stroke; 
at tlur ri^^lit rnorncnt, wliidi in vv.'ir is heyorid prie<;." 
Jt n(^(;d<;d no war to niak<; Jellieo(t gr<Nit. ][(; 
would at all tIfn(^s stjind out among }ils eont<;in- 
porariciH. JJ<;atty, for Ms stage;, n(;ed<;d a wiir. 
And given u. war, with tlu; <;}ian(;c to d<;v(;lop and 
cxiiihit Ills genius in hattle, Ik; <!arrl(;d tlu; world. 
His eliaruMiS <:ani<; early in his eanKT in tlu; Sou- 
dan ;uid in C/hiria. St^I/ing th<;rn, Jie rusli<;rl so 
quickly up thi; ladder of f)roinotiori that Ik; ii\:iy 
have outstripp(;d his t<;elinieal <;du(;ation. Jellieoc 
as a naval strat<;glst and taetieian, is <;onsid(;red 
tlie first man in iiis prof(;ssion. J5(;atty, l)y his 
actual training, is n<;ith<;r strat<;gist nor taetie*ian. 
I low eoiild Ik; Ix;, hoiling along, a (;ornmand(;r at 
27, a eai)t;i,in at 20? I*ut with a fighting [)rol>l(;m 
before; him, the; of)<;n sea, and tin; guns rojirlng, }i(; 
solv<;s it by instlnetivc; g(;nius. 

'^FIk; gr(;at Batth; of Jutland was fouglit for tlx; 
British, for the; world, by .B(;atty and Jellieoc. 
I^a(;h play(;d his j>art with eonsummat<; skill. 
,B(;atty had tin; st;i,g(; all through, wliih; J<;IIieoe 
merely came; on for the; third ar;t. .B(;atty fought 
th(; brilliant battle of a }i(;ro with such amazingly 
bold ;uid p(TsIstcnt t(;n;if:ity that Ills vastly sup- 



28 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

erior enemy was being well liammered when Jelli- 
coe witli llic main forces, came up to relieve the 
strain. Yet Jellicoe's i)art was infinitely the 
more (lifiicult, for upon liiiu depended the whole 
issue of the haUle. His magnificent deployment, 
without visibility, by judgment alone, was per- 
fect. It is blind and idle to withhold praise to the 
skill and services of Lord Jellicoe at Jutland sim- 
ply because his prudence and the (rod of the 
mists robbed him of complete and glorious victory. 
What Beatty might have done is another question, 
forever unanswerable, but as far as Jellicoe's 
beautiful tactics were ixM-mitted lo go by the failing 
light, they could not have been bettered. 

I have often wondered, in reflecting on the 
relations which exist between these great coni- 
nianders and the officers of their commands, if they 
may not have accepted the code of John Paid 
Jones, the founder of the American navy. In his 
"famous letter to Congress in September, 1775, he 
expressed the code of a great leader. Advising 
the attitude of a naval officer he wrote: 

*'In his inlercoiu'se with subordinates he should 
ever maintain the attitude of the commander, but 
that need by no means prevent him from the 
amenities of cordiality or the cultivation of good 
cheer within proj^er limits. Every commanding 
officer should hold with his subordinates such rela- 
tions as will make them constantly anxious to 
receive invitation to sit at his mess-table, and his 



NELSONS OF TO-DAY 29 

bearing toward them should be such as to encour- 
age them to express their opinions to him with 
freedom and to ask his views without reserve." 

How many of the great chiefs of the Grand 
Fleet have actually read these words of Jones is 
for conjecture. But that they believe in, that they 
further, and that they actually practise this code 
of Jones, I will testify. Particularly is this true 
of the present Commander-in-Chief, who im- 
presses his young officers in a manner only pos- 
sible to a personality so dazzling as his own. It 
was not because we were officers of a visiting navy 
that so many of us were fortunate enough to 
receive courtesies at his hands. The British 
officers who chose to seek his acquaintance were 
none the less fortunate. It was because we were 
officers of his command — his subordinates — upon 
whose backing, in masses, he knew would depend 
his ultimate success. 

Typically English, the admiral loves his home for 
the hours of quiet diversion it affords him nearly 
every afternoon. And his exercise. Scarcely a 
fair day passes while the fleet is in port, without 
the admiral having had at least a short turn at 
tennis — his favourite "game. On the fine clay 
court which he had built at his home in Abcrdour, 
there occurs almost daily as much of sport and 
social gathering as at a select club. Aberdour is a 
small town on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, 
opposite the most seaward of the moorings of the 



30 HFATTV, .lEMJCOK, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

(rniiul V\cv\ .•111(1 iiljoul (irio(Mi niiniilos hy inolor 
from (lie llc(M's main laiHlini;'. Tlic adinirars 
homo, Al)(M(loiir House, is siluaiod on nillior lii<;h 
grouiul which overlooks the cntniiice lo I ho firlh. 
Mjiny (hiys it vv;is my <;oo(l fortune to enjoy myseU' 
there, inereasiui;' each lime an extraonhnurily 
interesting cireh^ of accpiaintanee. There w;is 
sciircely an admiral or lady of (he (rrand Fleet 
who would not aj)|)(\ir at Aherdour on some day in 
ii fori night. Or if it rained I he scene miglil shift 
to the great room in old Al)erdour (.'astle, close by 
on the estate, wliere (hmcing was perfect. The 
admiral seldom danced, hut seemed to enjoy 
quite as nuich as any one the huge open fire, the 
girls, and the music. Indoors or out. Sir David 
was the leader of the good reeling and pleasure of 
the afternoon. Force and vivacity radiated from 
him in the form of wit and I hough tful conversation. 
No doubt he would haxe pi(^f(M-red to remain at 
home into the evening. I have seen him part 
most reluctantly from his lovely lady to rejoin his 
"City of Steel." But there is a war-time order in 
the Grand Fleet that all hands shall be aboardshij) 
at seven thirty in the evening. The admiral, 
above all, is a member of the (rrand Fleet, lie 
always had dimier on his flagship the Queen 
Elizabeth, and there remained. 

Often the conversation would drift to the great 
question — the question which held the destinies of 
us all: "Will they come out?" And to the last 



NELSONS OF TO-DAY 81 

day, still hoping, even against hope, Admiral 
Beatty had always the same reply: "Of course they 
will come out! What else can they do?" So firm 
and so expressive had lie been in his belief through 
the disheartening years of vigil that he kept thou- 
sands of his officers and men strung taut by his un- 
daunted spirit which seeped down and permeated 
his entire command. "They must come out," 
we thought; "Sir David has told us they will." 

Whether he sincerely believed in an impending 
battle I never have been able to ascertain. In 
either case, in his apparent faith he chose the only 
course for maintaining in his forces that tension 
which is so essential to the highest efficiency. After 
it was over, on the great November twenty-first, 
he most cleverly avoided derision by exclaiming: 
"There you are! I always told you they would 
come out!" As a matter of fact his heroic vaunt- 
ing (I use the term because to assume their coming 
was to boast of victory) would have been forgiven 
had the German fleet never raised an anchor, in 
surrender or war. It was simply an evidence of 
that enthusiastic temperament characteristic of so 
many great naval commanders — and which we al- 
ways forgive, overlook, or even praise — because 
they are victors. How would Nelson's confident 
prediction and unqualified boasts, not merely of 
British prowess, but of his own, have sounded from 
the pen or from the lips of any but an habitual vic- 
tor! Ilawke is forgiven without question for say- 



32 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

ing to his pilot, at Quiberon: "Damn you, sir, you 
have done your duty in warning me of the danger 
of this passage! I did not ask your tactical ad- 
vice! I asked you only to lay nie alongside the 
enemy — now do that, and keep your mouth shut! 
I am not emulous of the fate of Byng " ! ! And from 
any other than Sir Francis Drake that superb 
sailor's customary language would have been reck- 
oned that of an inflated braggart! Our own Jones 
in his letter to Kersaint, criticized the French most 
sweepingly in their tactics, outlining the probable 
results had he been in command. He is easily ex- 
cused by the long string of victories at his back. 

No, this policy of Beatty, be it sincerity, wisdom, 
or boast, will never be questioned by the future. 

Of the many afternoons I enjoyed at Aberdour 
with the Commander-in-Chief and Lady Beatty, 
one in particular stands out above the rest. It 
serves well to illustrate how completely did the 
great admiral control his command. Just one 
link was false in a chain which might otherwise 
have suspended me at an enviable height. That 
link was the skulking Ilun. Had he been born to 
fight at sea I might have been twice blessed that 
day. 

Scarcely had I arrived at Aberdour when I 
learned that some unusual report had come in from 
the sea. The admiral had arrived before me and 
continued to talk on his open wire for some mo- 
ments. The fleet at once dropped from four to two 




I'holo try Inlernulional Film Service 

Admiral Williuiu S. Sims, U.S.N. 
As he a|)pciir(<l wliilc in coiiim;iii<l of the American naval forces in Kurope 




'I'lic Smile llial \Vlii|)|)C(l (lie (icrmaii X;i\y 

Striking sikiiksIioI oI' I In- w iiiiiiiit;' |M'rsoiuilil,v ol' Ailiiiir.il IJimII.v wliicli 
wcldc.l Ihc liii},'<' (Jniiul Mccl logvlhcr 



NELSONS OF TO-DAY 33 

and one half hours' notice for steam, and shortly 
afterward was making preparation for departure 
at a moment's notice. When Sir David came out 
to the tennis court he suggested that I need not 
answer the recall signal from my ship as expected, 
but return with liim. "I don't believe they intend 
to shove off without me," he added. We started 
our game, but over the wire the admiral had 
thrown the scent into the kennels; already the 
leaders of that great pack, so apparently listless a 
short hour before, were bristling and snarling on 
the new-found trail. With a pleasant smile Ad- 
miral Beatty jerked his racket toward the firth. 
From the court which overlooks the entrance could 
be seen the first of the screening groups as they 
slipped quietly to sea. Division followed division, 
as destroyers, light cruisers, and scouts passed on to 
their appointed tasks. The Grand Fleet was in 
motion. In motion at the direction of its great 
Commander-in-Chief, who, while actually com- 
manding his fleet by wire, was also my partner in 
a game of tennis. Messages came to him too often 
for his liking, as far as the game was concerned. 
Several he despatched in reply, but it soon became 
too hot, forcing his departure for a sterner game. 
We snatched a brief tea before leaving, during which 
one of the ladies was heard to exclaim: "Oh my! 
How terrible if you should fight again!" It was 
a sudden draught for < the admiral's smoldering 
thoughts! I caught his glance, then: "Whatl 



SI nKA'rrv, .tkli.icx)e, sums, vVnd rodinian 

How, i)niy, do you expect we slinll finish lliis husi- 
noss?" Soon we lel'l, and 1 did not fancy heini;- in 
n [>osilion of opposition lo wiialever '* business" 
I he iuhuind inlended lo "finish" I ha I nii;hl. 
Through all the ride lo Ihe pier nol a word tlid he 
speak. Nor did I. AVhen al lasl Ihe rt)a(l opened 
out a visla to Ihe firlh we could see I hat the j;reat 
battle cruisers, alrcatly swunu," on their cables and 
belching great volumes of black smoke to the skies, 
were breaking moor to fall into line. The fading 
glow of the crimson twilight held great [)romise. 
It seemed to me that 1 could reach out iiud feel the 
tension of it. In his l)arge the admiral became 
less grindy reticent. Possibly he enjoyed the re- 
assurance of his home — the sea. He left me with: 
"Tell your captain I detained yon; you will liaA'c 
just time lo make your gangway before you swing 
to sea. I'm sending you along in my barge, (iood 
luck." Kegarding the gangway he missed his 
. guess, for when I arrived at the Ncir York, after a 
seemingly unending passage (h)wn the firlh, our 
gangways had already been hoisted aboanl. The 
nionolonous clinking of the winches, the spray 
rising from the hoses in the hawse pipes, and the 
rushing here and there of grou])s of sailors on our 
decks, assured me, as I mounled a Jacob's ladder, 
of our impending departure. The battle cruisers 
passed at twelve knots, mountains of black imder 
the dense clouds upheaved from their very bowels. 
No light, no sound, no visible movement on their 



NELSONS OF TO-DAY 85 

vast expanse of rler-k. Down under the Forth 
Bridge earne the First J5attl(; Squadron of the Grand 
r'l(;(;t; others earne, shij) after ship falling eaeh to 
her plaee in that st up(^ri(Jous line of avengers. Then 
in our turn we sHpped to sea; and our ship, Hke 
every other unit in the great line into which she was 
falling, was ready. For wliat.'* 

1 hved in the thrill of a lifetime, for we liad liad 
no further news of what we might expect. Hardly 
daring, I let my hopes cHmb. But the joy of an- 
ticipating an action in such a setting was all too 
short-lived. Again — once again — we were rohb(;d 
of tlie fruits of victory wJiich lay so close to our 
grasp. We wctc hardly an hour beyond the outer 
nets, into the black niglit, when the inevitable 
"Return to }>as(;" }>uzz(;d over our wireless keys. 
Some minor destroyer action had broadcasted the 
alarm, had bristled the hair of her mane, and 
brougFit the great mother wolf snarling from her 
lair. But when d(;stroyers meet destroyers no 
furtJier help is needed. The day-dream passed 
away. Small consolation though it proved, I 
knew at least of one heart more dejected than my 
own, for I had seen the fire in Sir David Beatty's 
eyes. 

Lord Jellicoe it was my honour first to meet on a 
September afternoon at Admiralty House, Rosyth, 
the home of Admiral Burney, Commander-in-Chief 
of the Coast of Scotland. So entirely is he unlike 
the mental picture I had formed that I could 



36 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

scarcely believe him to be the man. To this effect 
his civilian clothes no doubt contributed a share. 
But to find, in place of the tall, thin, austere and 
aloof man I had pictured, a man small of size and 
jovial as well as cordial in the extreme, was no small 
shock. In the presence of Lord Jellicoe one at 
once recognizes the highest type of English gentle- 
man — one who places you immediately at ease by 
his delightfully frank manner. Keen for sport, he 
always prefers to be out and doing — tennis being 
most usual with him. One day I stood talking 
with him on the veranda of Admiralty House 
which, hanging over a bluff, overlooks the Grand 
Fleet as it rides majestically to its moorings in the 
firth below. I wondered what were the thoughts 
of the great leader as he swept with his eye his for- 
mer command — his own organization — the greatest 
unit of force ever assembled and controlled by the 
hand of man! He is held in high esteem by the 
officers of his former fleet, many of whom will never 
reconcile themselves to the fact that he was 
snatched away before his work was fairly done. 
He loves the fleet and, ''apparently, his visits to it, 
accepting with enthusiasm the cordial hospitality 
of his former admirals. It is unfortunate that we 
Americans did not see more of the great Jellicoe. 
Even his visits to our flagship were of necessity 
informal, which prevented rendering him suitable 
honours. Those who know him best affirm that 
only by continued association can his true worth 



NELSONS OP TO-DAY S7 

be judged. Which, no doubt, is true, for he lacks 
that impelling force of personality, that vivacious 
dashing character, that draws even a stranger at 
once to Beatty. So, in justice, an adequate esti- 
mate of Jellicoe must be left to one who has served 
directly under his command — has studied him 
through a long period of time. The appraisal of 
one who has merely met him in a social way and 
played with him at tennis would be of doubtful 
value. 

Another war is ended — the greatest of all the 
world's great wars. Ended and won. We look 
back, now, to those who accomplished it, and love 
them. There are many whom we know well. They 
will not soon be forgotten. But the leaders — the 
leaders of the forces that won for us — how few of 
them are really known! And we will forget — be- 
cause we do not know. The great Nelson, faced 
with the realization of this same inpending tragedy, 
expressed himself by applying some very old lines, 
most fitting in the present, which he found had 
been used at the end of some former war: 

Our God and sailor we adore 

In times of danger — not before! 

Tlie danger j)u.st, bolli are alike requited: 

God is forgotten, and the sailor slighted! 



CHAPTER IV 

AMERICAN ADMIRALS AT WAR 

now ADMIRAL RODMAN AND ADMIRAL SIMS COOPER- 
ATED WITH THE BRITISH GRAND FLEET AMERICAN 

PERSONALITY ON THE SEA. 

When crew and captain understajid each other to the core. 
It takes a gale and more than a gale to put their ship ashore. 
For the one nrlll do what the other commands, although they are 

chilled to the bone. 
And both together can live through weather that neither could 

face alone. — Kipling. 

ON A certain morning In September, 1917, 
the Grand Fleet of Great Britain rode 
gracefully to its long lines of moorings, 
sealed safely in the Firth of Forth. It was resting 
at its southern base. A casual observer, glancing 
from the shore, would have remarked no unusual 
interest in the languid array of power. But as the 
trained eye scanned the fleet that day it rested 
questioningly upon the Grand Fleet's flagship. 
Queen Elizabeth. Floating from her main truck 
could be seen, in place of Admiral Beatty's white 
ensign crossed with red, a deep blue one, bearing 
four white stars. It was the flag of Admiral Mayo, 
Commander-in-Chief of our Atlantic Fleet. If 
some lurking German spy had focussed a lens upon 

88 



AMERICAN ADMIRALS AT WAR 39 

that fla^, }i(; would f>ro]>a}>Iy ]iiiv(t n-^istcred it as 
an *'uniirij)orl,;j,nt, d(;Uxil," for at Ihat time (Utrrnun 
r(;gard for llic AifK^rioan navy stood nono too }jigfi. 
Yet the vast significance whiefj may be atlae}i(;d 
to Uils "unimportant dcilail" can scarc(;ly Ixt 
measured. Pc^rfiaps it marked, figuratively, the 
very downfall of tli(; (/(;nnan Kmj>ire. it an- 
nounc(;d a conferenc(i — a conference of admirals 
in wliicli momentous questions were l^eing dis- 
cussed, pf^rliaps d(;cid(;d. As a rr;sult, less than 
thr(;<; inontlis later, on l)(;cember 7, 1017, 
Admiral Rodman, with a squadron of four battle- 
ships under his flagship, Nev) VorlCy anchored at 
Seapa J^'low, the C/rand l''l(;et's northern base in 
the Orkney Islands, and unrh^took his share in 
the North Sea vigil. 'J'his unit of power, added 
to that already ovr^r whelming sea force, proved 
to }>(• not all thri Allied cause would gain from 
th(; historic union. Admiral Rodman, when called 
upon a y<;ar lat(;r, (ixpnjssed the b(;li(;f of a great 
f>ody of our command(;rs when he said: "I have 
sometimf's thought that the close, homogeneous, 
and bro!h(;rly cooperation in the Grand Fleet 
was an example of what two nations could do 
that had a f;ommon caus(;, whose hearts w(;re in 
the right place;, in th(;ir work; and it was an ex- 
amphi and possibly the incentive which first 
I>rompt<;d the Allies to place all their armiea under 
th(i c-ornmand of Marshal Koch, which proved the 
most logical way in which to win the war." 



40 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODlVLiN 

The shrewdest judf^ment was needed in choosing 
the man to command the representative squadron 
of the American navy in its career with the Grand 
Fleet in time of war. An admiral was needed who 
could at once command authoritatively within his 
own division, and yet be gracefully subordinate to 
orders from his British commander-in-chief. lie 
must not only be a master of naval operations, but 
he must be a social diplomat, prepared to dis- 
tinguish himself in drinking tea as well as in de- 
ploying ships. He must by appeal or command 
maintain his sliips and men at a point of efficiency 
and utter cleanliness never before even attempted 
on shipboard. For his command was to be the 
example, in matters great or small, by which the 
British would, for generations, judge the standard 
of the American navy. The Navy Department 
after due deliberation wisely selected for this post 
Rear Admiral Hugh Hodman, who, in his long 
.year of trial, bettered even the high hopes of the 
Brilish by the performances and dependability of 
his scjuadron; who acLually opened the eyes of the 
British navy by presenting to them a revelation 
in the upkeep of ships and crews; who became a 
favourite of all with whom he came in contact 
either officially or socially, on land or sea. The 
Navy Department had recognized the unusual 
combination of qualities which existed in the man 
whom it chose for this command. 

Little known by the general public, Admiral 



AMERICAN ADMIRALS AT WAR 41 

RcKhnjurs cxecMvlivc abilily, liis c;;ij)ji('ily, was wtill 
known to Uie Navy J)<'f)arlin(^nt From Llio rvx-ord 
of liis service while sLalioned in LIk^ Panama (Janal 
Zone with (Sroethals. As a result of his work there, 
he received not only liigh commendation from the 
Department hut some very flatt(;rini>' ofr(TS of 
managerial positions by shipi)in<^' com])anies in 
civihan life. ]iut his love of the service never 
wavered. He had (established himself, not by any 
exhibition of brilliaiuy or by snat(;liing unusual 
opi)ortiniiti(;s, ])ut by st(?adl'ast ability. II(i had 
overcouH! the handi(;ap of graduating' from Anna- 
I)olis number sixty-one in a class of sixty-two. He 
had even refused, with such stubbornness, to be 
turned back a class that his supcrintcndcmt, Jlear 
Admiral Balch, decided he was worth reexamining. 
But what he failed to gain from books, he made up 
for by studying men. J*\)r his was the unusual 
good fortune of being picked as aide and confid(;n- 
tial secretary to tli(; grcuit Mahan, Ihen ordy a cap- 
tain; and later he l>ecame confidential aide to 
Captain Perkins, considered one of the highest 
type of commanders the navy has ever had. It 
is said that Rodman had much to do with tlie 
phraseology of Mahan's first book on sea power. 
On the West Coast, Rodman gained his first ex- 
perience in the pra(;ti(!al handling of vessels — 
operating with tugs, cruisers, and small craft. 
It was there that Admiral Osterhaus, rej)uted an 
excellent judge of men, picked Rodman to com- 



42 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMLIN 

mand his flagship, the Connecticut. Since Rod- 
man never had handled a battleship, the incident 
was made the subject of considerable comment, 
and Rodman was watched very sharply. In the 
face of this, he exhibited superb mastery of his 
ship, and such cool and successful boldness, while 
in a "tight" place, that he gained a distinct repu- 
tation throughout the fleet. 

To describe briefly but adequately the service 
which Rodman's detachment accomplished as the 
Sixth Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet is no 
easy task. But the trials and intricacies of its 
command may be guessed by some remarks of the 
admiral himself, which I noted one evening as he 
was conversing in his cabin with a very good 
friend. The admiral was asked if he had not 
experienced unusual difficulties in the strange con- 
ditions and new methods encountered '* while 
outside." To this he replied substantially as 
follows: "Occasionally, yes, occasionally! You 
should have seen the nights on which we stood out 
through the Pentland Firth last winter. That is, 
you should have been there — but not you, nor 
any one else could have seen much. Invariably 
we would stand out of Scapa Flow, through the 
Pentland Firth, in the black of night. Through 
the Pentland Firth which with its skerries and tide- 
rips is considered hazardous even in broad day- 
light, and never attempted at night in times of 
peace! Without a light of any sort and scarcely 



AMERICAN ADMIRALS AT WAR 43 

a signal passing between us; without a sound or 
quiver of wireless, we would pass to sea, perhaps 
a hundred strong, by sheer instinct, cold figures, and 
superb cooperation, so smoothly that when dawn 
revealed the sea alive with craft of every sort, 
stretched off in all directions, we marvelled and won- 
dered how we ever had avoided one another, not to 
mention rocks, shoals, and mines, in passing out." 

On his bridge an admiral Is a subject for study. 
Particularly so Is Admiral Rodman. He is abso- 
lutely cool and seems almost unconcerned — as long 
as he is satisfied. But let the slightest mistake 
occur, then "stand from under!" He is never 
sparing in reproach or criticism. Many times has 
he run a reproof in bunting up to the yard-arms 
for some seemingly trivial breech In tactics by 
another ship, which must have seemed harsh to 
the recipient. For the most part, however, his 
good nature has the upper hand and easily radi- 
ates from wing to wing of the bridge. It can be 
felt In his very presence. I have seen him in 
"tight" positions, while everyone Is more or less 
holding his breath, give orders sharply, briefly — 
then nonchalantly start to expound some absurdly 
irrelevant story to another officer on the bridge. 
He seems entirely confident in the outcome of the 
execution of his orders. His stories by the way 
seem to come from unlimited resources. But it Is 
useless to repeat them. The admiral's Inimi- 
table style is what gives them this distinction. 



44 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

One has merely to know Admiral Rodman cas- 
ually to account for his personal triumphs with 
the Grand Fleet. His jovial, wholehearted smile 
"gets across" from the start. And with English- 
men — the most outspoken of whom we should con- 
sider reticent — his blunt, matter-of-fact, and to- 
the-point manner seemed a delightful revelation. 
They made him the honoured subject of a myriad 
of entertainments, lavishing upon him the whole- 
souled enthusiasm which they felt for America in 
the last year of the Great War. Never have I 
heard an adverse criticism of Admiral Rodman 
voiced by a Britisher. On the contrary, scores 
of warmly appreciative remarks were constantly 
flung at me concerning him, both ashore and 
afloat — from the highest in command down to the 
men in the gun rooms. To express their senti- 
ments in a way that he might never forget, the 
admirals of the Grand Fleet united, on the eve of 
his departure from their comradeship, in present- 
ing Admiral Rodman with a huge loving cup, 
inscribed with their personal appreciation. That 
this unusual cordiality might be realized by a por- 
tion of the people for whom he had striven to 
bring it about. Admiral Rodman has in turn pre- 
sented it by saying: *' When I add that I sometimes 
commanded a force with British admirals under 
me, sometimes they commanded me, and that no 
thought of jealousy, no thought of nationality, no 
thought of any misunderstanding ever arose, you 



AMERICAN ADMIRALS AT WAR 45 

w^Ill understand how extremely close and brotherly 
were our relations." 

Despite his strictness, which the appearance of 
his ships reflected, the admiral was very generally 
popular within his squadron. Particularly was 
this true aboard his flagship, where his delightful 
democracy could better be felt and appreciated. 
For instance, I remember him on the evening be- 
fore our departure for home. I had invited Vice- 
Admiral Levison, of the British navy, and several 
others, with their ladies, to whom we owed so 
much for their delightful courtesy, to dine in the 
Junior Officers' Mess on the New York. Of course, 
x\dmiral Rodman was enjoined to attend. But 
he did more than merely accept. Through all the 
preparations there was nothing in which he did not 
offer to help. During the dinner and throughout 
the evening he was at his best, insuring, from the 
outset, the success of this rather sad farewell 
party. 

On the other hand, it must be admitted, his 
inspections, which seemed to compete with the 
phases of the moon in their frequency, were about 
as popular as the "Flu." Anticipation would 
cause evil spirits to haunt us in our dreams, while 
realization never failed to increase the none-too- 
gentle vocabulary of the Junior OflScers' Mess by 
at least a score of choice expressions. It was pre- 
cisely t^e attitude the admiral wished to create. 

If any .one doubts that he obtained the results 

It 



ir. BEATTY, JELLICOE. SIMS. AND RODMAN 

he sought, he has biiL lo refer his skepticism lo one 
of our IJritish visitors to be for nil limes convinced. 
With his heiuhiuiirters Jiiul usual whereahouls in 
far-iiway London, Athniral Sims, the Connnaiidcr- 
in-Chief of our naval forces operating in Kuro})ean 
waters, presents far more numerous obstacles of 
approaehability to a mere battlesliii) man than 
Admiral luxlmati. But notwithstanding his usual 
remoteness from the battleship force itself il was 
quite im[)ossible to serve in il for any considerable 
time without being permeated and saturated with 
what may best be lermed his greatness. Great- 
ness without a (lualihcation, for T luive heard 
it staled by an ollicer high in the United States 
army, that from many circles comes Ihe oi)inion 
that we have in Admiral Sims the greatest com- 
mander, the strongest man, of either service. 
Further, this opinion is earnestly shared lo-day 
by the British navy. Through Ihe most trying 
year and a half of its liistory, its officers have 
known him in his work, and by his work — work 
which of necessity was carried on so nuich in the 
Iwilighl, Ihat few Americans have yet seen its 
magnitude. For any errors conmiitlcd by that 
part of our navy actually engaged in the Great 
War, Admiral Sims is resi)onsible. And for its 
services, potential or kinetic. Admiral Sims is also 
responsible. Admiral Sims was the Connnander- 
in-Chief, director of operations, distributor of 
forces, court of appeals, oflicial representative, and 



AMERICAN ADMIRALS AT WAR 47 

international diplomallst for our navy at war, for 
our }>attl('sliii).s, dostroycrs, submarines, mine force, 
patrol crafi, land has(;s, and hospitals alike. And 
in this vast service he was held from start to finish 
inunwaverinj^ devotion and esteem. He is a leader. 
There is no flourish, nothing conspicuous in his 
greatness. Quietly he wends his way. But, as 
one of his aides very aptly expressed it: "He 
saws wood." Afterward, the pile he had cut was 
placed on exhibition by his contemporary. Admiral 
Rodman, who said: *' There can be no question 
that our destroyer force did valiant service against 
the Ilun submarine; that cur heavy artillery force 
manned by naval gunners with 14-inch guns 
mounted on railway carriages, each throwing a 
a shell that weighed 1,400 pounds, and which oper- 
ated with the army at the front, made its presence 
a dread to Ilun strongholds which could not other- 
wise have been reached by gunfire; that our mine 
force, by laying a barrage or string of mines from 
the Norwegian coast to the Orkney Islands across 
the North Sea, aided materially in adding to the 
danger of any Ilun submarine or surface craft 
that might attempt to gain the open sea. We have 
every reason to Ije proud of and no reason to regret, 
the part which our navy played in its work during 
this war, and, taking a retrospective view, had we 
to do it again we would not change one iota, which 
is the strongest proof that the work has been well 
done." 



48 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

I first encountered Admiral Sims through a most 
unique circumstance, one which only a sudden 
Impulse could have occasioned. In February, 
1918, the third month of her service in the war 
zone, the New York was dry-docked at Newcastle- 
on-the-Tyne, to be fitted with paravanes and other 
appliances. Dry-dock means "leave," and this, 
to me, meant France. Two of us set out with the 
resolve, despite much derision, that France, our 
goal, must be reached. Arriving In London at 
seven In the evening, our project met with little 
encouragement. At headquarters, we were told 
that such visits had been stopped, but that we 

might get the advice of Commander . This 

we obtained, which was that all visits to the front 
had been curtailed by order of the admiral, but 

that Paymaster might issue passports to some 

parts of France not adjacent to the front. After 
much searching, we found the paymaster, who 
blasted our hopes by simply stating that the words 
"Sims, official" must endorse such passports. He 

suggested that we see ('aptain , the admiral's 

aide. The captain was out. Having, by this time, 
nearly worn out the tires of our taxi and noting 
the advancing hour, we decided to play our trump 
card. Admiral Sims was at home In his apart- 
ment at the Carlton. To a request by phone, he 
sent down the reply that naval officers were no 
longer allowed to visit the fronts in France. We 
had one more shaft to loose. To a brief, but pain- 













a. - 

P.C- 
O y; 



CD 



tij 



■5^ 



so 

c 0, 



AMERICAN ADMIRALS AT WAR 49 

fully careful note he replied: "Send the young 
man up." 

The admiral was alone. Tall, thin, impressive, 
he welcomed us with cordial dignity. A handshake 
and "Be seated. Now, what can I do for you?" 
left us entirely at ease. When we had stated our 
desires, he did not reply, but instead turned the 
subject to our ships, the work of the squadron, and 
conditions generally in our rather new department 
of his command. Instead of the relations being 
strained by the unconventionality of such a visit, 
we found ourselves more and more at ease as the 
impelling magnetism and aggressiveness of Ad- 
miral Sims became evident. The three stars on his 
collar made him none the less the man; and to the 
man, not the intangible admiral, we were speaking 
on this occasion. Finally he arose and said: 
"Well, you have come a long way, and have your 
hearts set on France. I don't like to disappoint 
you 'kids.' Stop at headquarters to-morrow morn- 
ing at ten o'clock and I'll give you a letter authoriz- 
ing you to visit France, providing you do not visit 
an actual battle front, and providing you return 
before your leave expires." He expalined that the 
reason he had ceased to allow any one, even his 
captains, to visit the battle front was that many 
had done so, and in each case an officer of the 
British army had been courteously detailed to 
take charge and show the visitor anything of 
interest in that sector. "Which is all very well," 



50 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

he added, "but at present, every officer of the 
British army is needed for bigger things than 
taking us sightseeing." The admiral had seemed 
more like a father to us than anything I could think 
of; one could scarcely realize that this lovable man 
was the great Sims. At ten in the morning we 
found our passports, with his authorization, at 
headquarters. It was simply a typewritten state- 
ment, signed, on official paper. Knowing the 
strictness of inspectors, I questioned whether this 
would be honoured to pass us. The commander 
whom I had asked smiled and, pointing to the 
Admiral's signature, said : " You see that.^^ S-I-M-S 
will pass you anywhere in Europe." I realized 
for the first time how the war was increasing the 
prestige of America. 

Six months later, in August, came another op- 
portunity. I met him in his office at headquarters 
in London. This time it was at his request. An- 
other lieutenant and I had been sent to represent 
the Grand Fleet in the Army vs. Navy tennis 
matches at Queen's Club, London. Admiral Sims 
seemed to be immensely interested. Expecting 
to see the play, he talked with us in his office on the 
morning of the matches. He is enthusiastic for 
sports of all kinds, seldom missing a game played 
by one of his teams. Apparently satisfied with the 
details of the matches, Grand Fleet competition, 
our chances, and similar matters, he wished us suc- 
cess most heartily and urgently. Perhaps he real- 



AMERICAN ADMIRALS AT WAR 51 

ized what this would mean later in the day, when 
we could feel that he was behind us as sincerely as 
any one in the stand. On this same visit, I watched 
him several times while at luncheon in the Em- 
bassy with his staff. Usually he finished before 
the others, would rise at once, and taking the flight 
of steps two at a time, start briskly down the street 
toward his headquarters. Activity marked his 
every move, naturally perhaps, for in Sims we find 
a true American, still in the prime of life. 

Once to inspect the squadron, again when King 
George visited us, and lastly to witness the sur- 
render of the German ships. Admiral Sims visited 
the New York in the Grand Fleet. He showed 
clearly his delight in the condition of Rodman's 
command, nor could there have been a more 
thorough judge. Each time when the sailors 
learned that Sims was to come, they were over- 
joyed and seemed to take particular interest in 
having the ships in the very pink of condition. 
Perhaps this was because a number of our chief 
petty officers at one time or another during their 
careers had served directly under Sims. The 
verdict of such men is perhaps, after all, the great- 
est test of a good commander. They loved him. 
Not because he had been *'soft" as an oflScer, but 
because he had been '* square." They all shared 
the opinion that he had known more about their 
business than they themselves, and that he had 
been an insatiable worker. They had worked 



52 BEATTY, JELLK ()1<:, SIMS, AND UOD^IAN 

willingly, because lliey knew lilni lo he a worker. 
AVilli lliese nnvarying ()])inic)ns (Irifling from our 
chief petty ofHcers to the men, it is small wondtu- 
that their heads were a lillle higher, llicir clollics 
a lillle cleaner Tor Admiral Sims's insi)ecli()ns llian 
for any olhers. 

Inunedialely after our entrance into Ihe war, it 
became necessary that ihe na\'y be established 
abroad. Onr war on the sea nuist go to Ihe enemy 
quite as decidedly as our war on land, for Ihe enemy 
was no belter able to reach us in one way than 
the other, except, perhaps, by submarines. Who, 
then, should conunand? Without any inside know- 
ledge of the subject I will hazard a guess that 
there was no prolonged discussion on the matter. 
The main work would be with destroyers. The 
times found Admiral Sims, that live wire of I lie 
navy, in command of our destroyer licet. He was 
the same Sims, who, during ihe Spanish-American 
'War, had been our naval attache in England. In 
that crisis he proved invaluable as a source of in- 
formation for the Government on naval nuitters, 
and soon came to be entrusted with vast res[)onsi- 
bilities. lie bought, e(iuii)pe(l, and cargocd ships 
for us, despatching them wilh speed that amazed 
the Department. To Sims, in large part, we owe 
the preparation of our fleet for the actions of that 
war. Later, when his realization of the i)itirul 
inefliciency of our naval gunnery prompted him 
to expose the matter, he was brought by the very 



AMERICAN ADMIRALS AT WAR .13 

;iijr]ar;il.y of Jiis a^^ntssirjn to the atUmlion of 
TlicjorJoro ll()(>s(tv<t\\.. AnoUior president might 
have court-martialed him. Rrmsevelt, rcahzing the 
truth of Sims's assertions, and accepting the pos- 
sibihti(;s of iiis rerrornmendations, placed him in the 
position which enaf>J(;d him to revolutionize the 
gunnery, not only of the navy, hut of the army as 
well. No other man Ixtfon^ or since has approached 
his accomplishm(;nt along this line. As a result 
of this (;xf;ellent work h(; was given command of 
the hatth'ship Minneffota. That he was able to 
succ(;(;d in such a command, when unusually young, 
was due to an indep(;ndenc(; of thought that he had 
maintained from th(i c*arly rlays of his can^cT, which, 
while it impaired his scholarship, had left him par- 
ticularly w(;ll trained in the subjects which he chose 
specially to pursue. A little later in his career 
(1010) came; that farnr>us sp(;ech in London, in 
which he pn;dict(Ml the Oreat War and told Iiow we 
would be rlrawn into it. For this he received a 
reprimand. But when that war came, as he pre- 
dict(;d, the reprimand stood for little against his 
n^r-ord. The; navy had b(;fore it the r(;cord of a 
liuman dynamo, the dare-devil who had risked his 
career *'for the good of the service," and who had 
won. Admiral Sims was despatched, at once, to 
organize, advise, and command the naval forces of 
the United States which would actively engage in 
the World War. What he asked for was given 
him; what he advised was executed; what he com- 



54 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

manded succeeded. One year after Admiral Sims 
had reached England with his embryonic unit of 
destroyers and patrols, thousands of weather- 
beaten jackies on shore leave while scores of sea- 
scarred vessels took on new life in fuel and stores, 
could be heard through the seaport towns, whist- 
ling, singing, or playing the tune of which they were 
so proud, ''Admiral Sims's Flotilla Is the Terror 
of the Sea." 



CHAPTER V 

KINGS, QUEENS, AND AMERICAN JACKS 

FORMALITIES AND HONOURS ABOARD THE FLAGSHIP 
"new YORK" IN THE GRAND FLEET VISITS AND TRIB- 
UTES OF Europe's royalty 

Those opposed eyes, 
Which, like the meteors of a troubled heaven. 
All of one nature, of one substance bred, 
Did lately meet in the intestine shock. 
And furious close of civil butchery. 
Shall now, in mutual well-beseeming ranks, 
March all one way and be no more opposed 
Against acquaintance, kindred and allies. 

— Henry IV. 

DURING the midsummer months of 1918 the 
centre of interest for the junior officers of 
the New York was the sheet of wireless press 
news that appeared every morning in the mess hall. 
Each officer, as he appeared, launched his questions 
and joined the group about the bulletin board be- 
fore touching his breakfast, and his spirits for the 
day were almost invariably determined by the 
contents of that slip of paper. A sharp gain or 
loss by the Allied armies, or more particularly by 
the American army, was as clearly revealed by the 
attitude of the members of our mess as it was by 
the red and blue crayon on the big map we had 

55 



56 BEATTY, JELLICOE. SIMS, AND RODMAN 

luing on the bulkhead. In fiiet, as a result of an 
unusually quiet month "outside," our interest had 
come to rest in the armies. Except to ehanj^e our 
base or to execute our planned manixnivres each 
week we had scarcely raised the anchors. We now 
discussed the (icrniau High Seas Fleet wilh a 
sneer, substituting '*if" for "when," and looked 
with misgivings at our chance to end the war at 
sea. 

Apparently we were idle; but the eyes of the 
world were of necessity blinded. In the American 
Battle Squadron on those summer days, history was 
being made and international relations were l)eing 
established which will endure for generations. Nor 
were these "idle" months a bed of roses, relief 
though they seemed from the North Sea winter 
gales. To the crews of the squadron, particularly 
to the men of the New I'oWr, it was the most irk- 
some time of all. Visitors! Guests! Insi)ect- 
tions! How they did hate those terms! Small 
wonder, for sometimes parties of official visitors 
woidd come aboard day after day, each instance 
meaning work far out of hours to have the ship in 
spotless, glistening condition for each new visitor. 
With apologies to Jutland it might have been 
termed "the battle of the mists," this fight, trying 
tlie endurance of patience rather than nerve and 
skill. "American sailors have fought and con- 
quered the mists of Scotland," was the unanimous 
verdict of those who witnessed the incomparable 



KINGS, QUEENS, AND AMERICAN JACKS 57 

appearance of our ships on tliose inspection days. 
I say *' incomparable" because it is the tribute of 
admirals, of peers, and of kings. Such, indeed, 
were our visitors, through whom the ties of nations 
were being mightily strengthened. And the men 
of the New York were rewarded for their added 
labours by contact with the world's great leaders 
in the world's most desperate crisis. 

When the American squadron joined the Brit- 
ish Grand Fleet in the Orkney Islands, it was en- 
shrouded by a veil of uncertainty, a shadow of 
doubt, which, while never voiced, could none the 
less be felt. After a month of cooperation the 
doubt seemed for all time dispelled. We had reg- 
istered for the first time a successful union of for- 
eign ships with the Grand Fleet — and had done 
so at a time of grave stress. To reach us while 
in the north had been impossible; but our arrival 
south brought visitors to acclaim that union of 
which Americans may long be proud. 

First of all we had an official visit from Vice 
Admiral Arthur C. Leveson, that greatly beloved 
*'live wire" of the Grand Fleet, then in command 
of the Second Battle-Cruiser Squadron. On that 
occasion a foundation was laid upon which there 
developed, as the year advanced, the warmest 
comradeship between his ships and our own, for 
subsequently our sister division, the Fifth Battle 
Squadron, was given to Admiral Leveson. The 
impression Admiral Leveson carried away from 



5^ UKATTV. .IKl.LKOi:. SIISIS. AND KODINl AN 

this firsl visil lo lis is o\i)rt\sso(i in llio closing' para- 
grapli of a lollor wrillon lo ('ai)lain lliigluvs dI' llio 
Ncir ]'(>rk on (he day lollowing" his visil : 

Mny I oxpivss l«> you my iiimuMisc ;i(lmir;ili()u {'ov I ho 
coiulilion of your ship? I \\:\\c \\c\cr seen ;mythin^ to 
touch hiM- (luriiii; thiily-(i\o years al, s(\i. Sho is ji pitlurc. 

Similar (*\i)ivssi(>ns of achuiralio!! \v<m'c voiced 
by Admirals (loochMion^h, Di* IJoIxmU, and Kvan- 
Thomas on llic occasion o\' I heir \isils It) ns, and 
the circnialion of Ihcsc remarks cslahhshtMl 
iliroui^honl Ihc llccl a ic^pnlalion dilhcidl indeed 
to mainlain. 

Next, on Ihe (iflli of Jnne, we reahzed a ]>rond 
aiilicipalion. \Mumi llial day came, sparkhm;- bhie, 
onr force commaiuhM*, Aihniral Sims, sle|)ped oNcr 
ilie gamiiway lo ins|)ecl Ihe cleanesl, brighlesl, 
Irimmosl shij) he had ever seen. To a navy mini, 
parlicnlarly one who lias btMMi associalc^l willi Sims, 
4hal. slalemenl sounds sweei)ini;-, bid we liave Ihe 
Achniral's word for il. In Ihe lalk which lie made 
on the fo'caslle afler liis ins[)eclion. Admiral Sims 
(hH'hired llial in Ihe face of llie resnlls of Ihe siiper- 
elforls of A(hniral luxhnan and ('ai)lain Iliii^hes 
lie must rchiKjiiish his claim lo dislinclion for Ihe 
mainlenance of ships, b'rom llial sjxhm'Ii some 
fifleen luindred ollicers and men carried broad 
smiles abo\'e inllaled cht\sls. 

ll liad been inleiided also lo (ire '' (ive-incir' 
target prucLicc for the Admiral, but a fog, rolling in 



KIN(iS, QUEENS. AND AMERTr;AN JACIKS r>0 

irorn tJi(; s(*;x, so vcduccd \\\('. visihllily llial, w(; had 
to hit conlcnicd willi iri;i,nf/iivns. lie. aj)i)(;;ir(;(l 
highly j)hta.s<r(l wiUi the; opcTalions of IIk; .squadron. 

Adrninil Siiris's visil, sl.arlcrl Ific l>;i.ll rolling. On 
\.\i(' s(;v(;nUi of JuiKr, Adiniral Sir Jtosslyn Wc/nyss, 
l)('f)ij|.y First, S<^a J.onl of I'ril.aln, canic, to us from 
t Ik- Admiralty. A brilliant, fonmoon g;i,v(t I Ik; slii[> 
h(;r fincisl, H(;t.t,irig. Admiral Wctmyss made; vvsy 
clear his plcjisun; and surf)ris(*, in a, delightful spr;ef;fi 
which followed his insjieelion, offering a rousing 
wcleouKt t,o (;very AnKtrienri in IIk; (irand .FI(;(;L. 
What plcascrj uh most was his extremely optimistic 
vi(rw of th(; international situation In lliat r;ruf;ial 
time, :i,nd his fjimoiis fighting spirit,, whicli now 
stood for the s|)irit, of the IJritish navy. Optimism is 
the key of Sir Kosslyn VV(;myss'H p(Tseveranc(; and 
.suec(!ss. L;j,ler, upon clos(;racrcjuain lance, I learned 
tluit, it s(;ldom forsakes him, in <luly or j)leasur(;. 

Five days jiflcr Admiral VVemyss's visit we en- 
joyed anoth(!r dist,inr;t i>rivileg(; in the first visit of 
our ('ommand(;r-in-chi(;f. Admiral Sir David 
JJ(;at,ty. On this oer-asion flu; Admiral li;ul litlh; 
to say,or at, hrast, Ik; had lit t h; tinx; in which t,osayit.. 
J5ut. on sij|>sequ(;nt, occrasions Ik; gav<; full voice to 
the corwlilions his serulirK)Us (;yes lind marked as 
he k(;enly ol>s(;rv(;d our m(;n and ship on that day. 
His ey(;s s[);irkled as f.h(;y dart(;d lK;r(; and t,}K;r(;, 
arnl I noticed his i>lejisur<; as Admiral Rodman led 
him with proud (;onfid(;nc(; into nook or comer or 
hatchway — always to find it, seru[)ulously clean. 



60 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SOIS, AND RODI^LVN 

Then a most sllnuilnllni;- inossn^v came from 
General lVrsliin«]j, uliieli will loii^; be elironicled as 
imieli for ils elfect as for its eliaracler. In I lie 
Grand Fleet, we bad never been enl oil' from I be 
armies in France. In fact tberc bad existed be- 
tween Ibe two services a binding* coordination of 
s.vm})atby and pnrpose. Tbe Grand Fleet knew 
eacb Innge, eacb parry of the Allied force as soon 
as tbe story conld be transmitted. On I lie out- 
come of tbese we bnilt onr fortnne. Farly in Aj)ril 
wben Haii;' in bis ])lii>lit ordered "Tliere nnist be 
no retirement. Willi onr backs to ibe wall, eacli 
one of ns must fi^lit on to ibe end/' be received 
tins message from Beatiy: *'Tbe Grand Fleet has 
been following Avitb great admiration and sym- 
pathy ibe magnidcent clforts of their comrades of 
the ]5ritlsb army in France." And tbe following 
reply was received from Sir Douglas Ilaig: "All 
ranks of the British armies in France send their 
'heartiest thanks to their connvvdes in the Grand 
Fleet for their most encouraging message."' Ibit 
now, in the early summer, the American armies 
were in France — fighting! Onr brothers were 
fighting! We knew their spirit and they knew 
ours. It was General Pershing's wish to come io 
us. Obviously he could not, but he chose a fitting 
representative to convey his purpose. All who 
heard him will long remember the visit of Bishop 
Brent, senior chaplain of our Expedilionary l^'orces 
in France. The warm hearted and inspiring greet- 



KINGS, QUEENS, AND AMERIC.VN JACKS Gl 

ings he horc to us from (General J^crshing aroused 
a rmw realization of our unity with tlje army. Bish- 
op 15r(;nt is a natural orator. Standing there on 
the fo'eastle, thousands of bluejaekets massed be- 
low liim, with tlie red sunset of a clear, calm even- 
ing for his setting, he inspired us by his magnifi- 
cent force, filling us with new hope and proud con- 
fidence as he delivered this message, fresh from 
General Pershing: 

The bond which joins together all men of American blood 
has been mightily strengthened by the rough hand of war. 
Those of us who are privileged to serve in the army and navy 
are to one another as brothers. Spaces of land and sea are 
nothing when a common purpose binds. We are so depend- 
ent upon one anotJier tJiat tfie lionour, the fame, and the 
exploits of the one are the honour, the fame, and the exploits 
of the other. If the enemy should dare to leave his safe 
harbour and set his ships in battle array, no cheers would be 
more ringing than those of the American Expeditionary 
Forces in France. We have unshaken confidence in you and 
are assured that when the winning blow of the war has been 
struck, and togetlier we stand on the threshold of peace, your 
record will be worthy of your traditions. 

The American sfjuadron, with the entire Grand 
Fleet, found itself unexpectedly in the dreary north 
to celebrate that "greatest of liberty days," the 
Fourth of July. Then quite as unexpectedly, 
we had to hoist our immediate recall signals for all 
who were ashore, up anchor, and put to sea. Man- 
oeuvring olf the Jutland Bank we were out until 
noon of July eighth, when a tired, dirty ship and 



G^2 JJEATTY, .lELLICOK, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

crow (lr()i)iHHl niu'lior in llio I'irlh of I'orlli. In I lie 
inidsl ol' Ihc dirl aiul oxliauslioii of llio onloal ol* 
coalinjjj ship, caino I lie most start linjjj news by wire- 
less: "To-morrow tiie Kini; and (^uocii of the Bel- 
gians will visit the American squadron, boarding 
the A^nr York for inspection." 

Tlien those American bluejackets showed tluMr 
stud". Tired and sea worn, tiiey worked on nnlii 
midnight, finished tlieir job, and were up at five 
A.M. in order to accomi)lis]i tlie impossible. No 
wild streak of imagination could picture a more 
vivid change. From a filthy, sooty, mass of grime 
at eight one night, there was evolved at two I'.M. 
next day ii scoured, holystoned, painted shi[), 
manned by a spotless, ])olished crew in dress blue 
suits, each at his i)ost of insi)ection. At precisely 
two-thirty Albert, Xing of the Belgians, accompan- 
ied by Queen Elizabeth, was received (little know- 
ing) upon a spotless quarterdeck on their first visit 
to an American man of war. Now kings and 
queens nuist tire of l)eing acclaimed wherever they 
go. Bands, guards, cheers, salutations nuist long- 
have ceased to thrill them. So we received King 
Albert and his (pu (mi with something new. Band, 
guard, full honours rendered, yes; but we had 
something more for the sporting king and queen 
who had flown by airj)lane from their native 
land and had come to far-olF Scotland to inspect 
us. 

A black cloud drove threatening above us, paint- 



KINGS, QUEENS, AND AMERICAN JACKS Ofi 

ing tlio sky willi vivid st.r(*ak.s of lighlning. Our 
kite balloon, not yet deflated alter the reeent trip 
to sea, floated a thousand feet above our stern. 
Lightning and Jiydrogen gas! We had no fire- 
works witli which to welcome Alljert; we needed 
none. As tlieir majesties n(;ared tlie ship a vivid 
fork str(;ak(id downward, and with a flare that 
could be seen for miles our kite balloon descended 
from its airy }>ertli in a flaming sj^iral and cast its 
wreckage on the firth }>elow. 

King Albert covered the ship from bridge to 
firerooms. And nothing daunted. Queen Elizabeth 
was with the party every minute. In the fire- 
rooms King Alb(Tt grasp(;d a shovel given him, and 
promptly stoked onci of th(i roaring fires. Money 
could not remove that shovel from its case to-day, 
an everlasting trophy of the war. Six feet two 
incfies in his uniform, broad chested, and wearing 
a smile, the Fighting King made an imposing figure. 
He dwarfed all those about him, particularly his 
tiny qu(;(;n. Queen Elizabeth wore white en- 
tirely, but follow(;d the inspection without the 
slight(;st regard for grease or smudge. Their Ma- 
jesti(;s seemed to enjoy the visit immensely. We 
lovcfl them too, perhaps because they are delight- 
fully unlikf; the picture we had formed of reigning 
monarchs. liy those who were aboard our ship 
that summ(T rlay and felt tljat royal courtesy, this 
tribute of the I5(.'lgian nation has been placed 
among our highest honours. 



64 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

The following morning at "quarters" an appre- 
ciation from Admiral Rodman was published to all 
divisions, in which they found reward for their re- 
markable performance : 

The division commander wishes to express to the Captain, 
officers, and men of the New York, his appreciation of the 
splendid work and the results accomplished in thoroughly 
cleaning and painting the ship after coaling, in the short 
time and under the trying conditions in which they laboured 
in getting ready for the visit of the King and Queen of the 
Belgians. Such results can only be obtained when there is 
the proper spirit behind it. 

Visitors continued to come to us as the days 
passed, until we began to comprehend the senti- 
ments of a flower which had bloomed, by chance, 
near an apiary. A prince of Denmark, with his 
delegation and our ambassador, chanced upon us 
at a most appropriate time, just as a squadron 
.put to sea to shield a convoy bound for his own 
shores and Norway. Prince Yorihito of the Higashi 
Fushimi was given a great welcome on his official 
visit to the Grand Fleet, the occasion serving to 
emphasize the alliance and demonstrate the spirit 
of good fellowship and cooperation existing be- 
tween the Allied and Japanese navies. The recep- 
tion accorded the Prince by the fleet was not 
merely a ceremonial compliment, but an expression 
of the navy's appreciation of the assistance Japan 
had rendered to the Allied cause. It was a wel- 
come in which the American squadron cordially 




The Prophesy 

The flag of Admiral Mayo, U.S.N., floating at the truck of the Queen 
Elizabeth on the occasion of his visit to the Grand Fleet in September, 1917, 
which arranged the union of the British and American navies. 





Typical Norlli Soa Coiulilioiis 

'riio Anu'ricnii IJiitllr Squadron pliiiif^iiif;' aloiij; oil ils ccasoli'ss vi;>;i 



KINGS, QUEENS, AND AMERICAN JACKS 65 

participated. Prince Yorihito, wearing the uni- 
form of a full admiral, was accompanied by Prince 
Arthur of Connaught and a suite of Japanese and 
British officers. He was met on the Queen Eliza- 
beth by Admiral Beatty, Admiral Burney and Ad- 
miral Rodman, with the Royal Marines mounting 
guard. The Prince spent a busy day and displayed 
the greatest interest and enthusiasm, expressing 
frequently his appreciation of the preparedness 
of the Grand Fleet for all eventualities. In the 
afternoon he paid a visit to us in the American 
squadron. To receive him on the flagship the 
crew was drawn up on deck in full salute while the 
band played the Japanese national anthem. A 
prolonged inspection followed, after which the 
Prince and his party took tea with Admiral Rod- 
man. 

The Naval Advisory Board spent two days with 
the fleet, realizing for the first time the magnitude 
and perfection of the forces. Representative P. 
II. Kelly of Michigan, one of the best-posted mem- 
bers of the Naval Affairs Committee, quite carried 
away by the revelation, returned to Washington 
shouting the praises of the Grand Fleet thus: 

Great Britain's Grand Fleet is the most astounding exhibit 
of force that two eyes ever beheld. When we viewed that 
great naval force, ready to clash out into the North Sea on a 
moment's notice, there were three rows of ships riding at 
anchor and each row was eight miles long! There were war- 
ships of every kind and description from battle cruisers 



06 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

790 feet in loiif^Lli to stnall submarines. We have American 
ships operating as a j)art of that wonderful force. 

The Shipping Board, or part of it, came up from 
London. Pleasure indeed it was to feel the con- 
fidence expressed by these authorities on ships as 
they grasped for the first time the power of the 
Grand Fleet. Again, it was gratifying to watch 
the satisfaction grow on the face of Franklin D. 
Roosevelt, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, as he 
covered the ship and fleet. We had received from 
the Duke of Atholl, personal representative of King 
George, a message of welcome from His Majesty, 
and we felt, indeed, that the chain of our honours 
lacked but one link. The crew would often joke 
of it. They knew it would mean hard work but 
they wanted that one episode to crown the ever- 
growing heap of their experiences. Their hopes 
were realized. 

In the forenoon of the twenty-second of July, 
1018, it was my lot Lo have the watch on deck. 
Tliat watch was perhaps the liveliest that could be 
imagined while in port. Men swarmed the decks 
with every sort of cleaning implement. The ship's 
boats plied in constant use, rushing a hundred 
"last details." For this was preparation to re- 
ceive on board, at two p.m., Ilis Majesty King 
George the Fifth of England. 

Shortly past noon the majestic little despatch 
vessel. Oak, steamed down between our lines, the 
royal standard of England at her truck. The 



KINGS, QUEENS, AND AMERICAN JACKS 67 

Fourth Battle Squadron stood from the sea in close 
formation, passing the Oak midway between our 
lines and rendering full salute. The crew of every 
ship in the Grand Fleet had manned the rails, 
fringing the deck with living forms. And as the 
little royal vessel passed each mighty dreadnaught, 
three ringing cheers went up, and then "(xod Save 
the King." Louder and louder rang the cheers 
as the Oak came down the lines to where we lay; 
and when at last our crew let loose, its volume 
seemed to split the skies. At last the King had 
come! 

The North Sea is subject to sudden changes. 
On this day, clear through the forenoon, the condi- 
tions of the visit by the British sovereign to the 
American flagship lent themselves to a sense of 
mystery. By two o'clock a dense mist had des- 
cended about us like a pall. Near the ship were 
Other gray shapes, dimly visible through the haze. 
Beyond these were more distant objects, scarcely 
discernible. Everything else was swallowed up 
in the mist. Out from the gray surroundings 
over a drab sea, came speeding a little launch, 
with shining brass funnel, carrying the Sailor King. 
With him was the admiral in command of the 
Grand Fleet who had accompanied His Majesty 
from his own flagship on this memorable occasion. 
The King and his modest entourage climbed the 
steps leading to the deck of our great flagship and 
* faced the Stars and Stripes which floated smartly 



68 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODIVIAN 

in the breeze. American marines, forming the 
gnard of honour, gave the sahite; bugles and drums 
rang out; the marine band followed with "God 
Save the King." Admiral Rodman and Captain 
Hughes of the flagship received the King and the 
Commander-in-Chief with the other flag officers, 
andat once the reality of the friendliness that un- 
derlay this ceremonial visit was evidenced. 

On the flagship were the captains and senior offi- 
cers from the other vessels of the American squad- 
ron, as w^ell as fifty men from each. In double 
line, face to face, the complement was drawn 
around the entire vessel. Between the lines the 
King slowly moved, stopping from time to time 
as his eye noted some distinguishing mark differing 
from those of the British navy, and inquiring its 
significance. 

The deck completed, His Majesty went on with 
manifest zeal and interest to make a tour of the 
' ship under the American commander. His evi- 
dent interest in all he saw was appreciated by offi- 
cers and men alike. 

"He is by training a naval man," one British 
officer put it, "and when he speaks of a ship he 
knows what he is talking about." 

King George showed special interest in the 
laundry, with its Chinese attendants; in the bak- 
ery, where probably the finest bread in Europe was 
being turned out (we had white flour direct from 
the States); in the cold storage of meats, the ex- 



KINGS, QUEENS, AND AMERICAN JACKS 69 

tensive galley, the sick bay, and the modern barber 
shops. Above all he admired the cleanliness and 
sweetness of the air throughout the entire ship, 
even when he had descended to the lowest deck. 

"In the American navy," remarked His Majesty, 
"the precept of cleanliness being next to godliness 
has been effectively adopted." 

In thoroughness, his examination was second to 
none. Not to be outdone by Albert of Belgium, 
His Majesty descended through the many decks 
to the engine room and from it to the firerooms. 
Again one of the shovels was laid aside, engraved 
and encased. It will be for ever a trophy of the 
flagship, for with It King George of England stoked 
an American fire. How different the Teutonic 
conception of the prerogatives of princes! 

In the excitement and thrill of contact with 
England's king we had dwelt little upon the day's 
great meaning. Not until evening did we realize 
its full significance. King George had inspected 
the Grand Fleet of the English-speaking peoples. 
In that simple statement of fact is implied a revolu- 
tionary change In International sentiment and re- 
lations, as well as in maritime organization. The 
London Times of the following day expressed the 
situation by saying: "The King's visit to the 
United Navy of the two kindred powers who have 
joined force to secure the reign of justice and hu- 
manity among the nations of the earth may be 
said, indeed, to set up a new landmark in modern 



70 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

history." Of friendly feeling and the courtesies 
between our navies there had never been any lack, 
but here we had the spectacle of a combined fleet 
offering tribute and being honoured by the Sovereign 
of England. And were the conditions reversed, the 
same due would be paid our President. 

From his training, as well as from his position, 
no one was better qualified than the Sailor King 
to understand and appreciate the new and powerful 
bond of unity. At the conclusion of his memor- 
able visit King George gave the following message 
to the Commander-in-Chief: 

I am happy to have found myself once more with the 
Grand Fleet, and this pleasure has been increased by the 
opportunity I have had of seeing tlie sj)lendid shijjs of the 
United States in line with our own, and of meeting Admiral 
Rodman together with the officers and men under him. 
We value their comradeship and are proud of their achieve- 
ments. 

Our Commander-in-chief, Admiral Beatty, ad- 
dressed the King in reply : 

The Grand Fleet is deeply grateful for your Majesty's 
gracious and inspiring message. Your presence with your 
fleet has stimulated all hands in the great task upon which 
we are engaged and has afforded us another opportunity of 
giving expression to our unswerving loyalty and devotion 
to Your Majesty's person. We are glad that Your Majesty 
should have been able personally to observe our complete 
accord with the United States squadron and the firm friend- 
ship which binds their officers and men to your own. 



KINGS, QUEENS, AND AMERICAN JACKS 71 

It was on the occasion of this visit of the King 
to the Grand Fleet that, on the deck of Admiral 
Beatty's flagship Queen Elizabeth, he bestowed the 
K. C. B. upon Admiral Rodman. As a crowning 
tribute, the following telegram was transmitted 
from His Majesty the King to President Wilson: 

It has given me great pleasure to have visited this after- 
noon the United States Ship New York and to have made the 
acquaintance of Rear-Admiral Rodman and the captains of 
the battleship force now operating with my Grand Fleet, and 
I also had the opportunity of seeing the representatives from 
other ships of the squadron. 

I should like to express my admiration of the high effi- 
ciency and general smartness of the force. 

The happy relations which exist between the United States 
Squadron and their British comrades, and the unity of pur- 
pose which characterizes their work, are sure guarantees of 
the continued success of the Allied arms at sea. 

In these messages we realized at last the accom- 
plishment of our great unity of purpose. We felt 
then, as we felt again at the German surrender in 
the presence of the King, that the great union of 
the English-speaking peoples in the cause of right 
must prevail, now and forever. For the sacred 
purpose of the hour the naval strength of Great 
Britain and the United States had been more than 
brought into alliance; they were blended into a 
union, the remembrance and the influence of which 
will pass down to the last generations. 



CHAPTER VI 

OUT OF THE WATER 

GROOMED IN A FLOATING DRY DOCK AND EQUIPPED WITH 

PARAVANES. GLIMPSES OF FIGHTING FRANCE FROM 

LAND AND SKY AND SEA. ENGLAND AT WAR 

France gaily hlccds upon her lorn frontiers and counts her 
waning icealth of men and gold with still unquaiUng heart. 

Britain in vain hurls her full strength into the West, recruits 
increasing levies for the slaughter heap. 

— Kaufman. 

FOR eleven consecutive months, with the 
exception of four nights, the officers and 
men of the Flagship New York slept aboard 
their vessel. Picture then, the glorious sense of 
freedom, the relaxation, the adventure, of those 
four nights ! On the seventeenth of February, 1918, 
something happened which when it was over, we 
scarcely realized: It was announced that we 
were going to dry dock at Newcastle, there to be 
given leave. We were going to England and could 
pretend, for a few days, that there was no war. 
For two weeks we would be out of water, the crew 
to have leave in two shifts. The ship would refit 
and be rigged for paravanes. It was a happy 
night, that night of the seventeenth. I hardly 

72 



OUT OF THE WATER ' 73 

slept at all. Mail came from the States in the early 
evening (we received it in lots of about twenty 
bags per ship each ten days or so), which made 
news fly and spirits rise still more. At eight o'clock 
we went to short steaming notice, making our 
early departure almost certain. The mid-watch 
was mine, and with it came a gale of wind and rain. 
Not very bright for our prospective trip. 

Dawn showed no break, but more than a gale 
was needed to thwart our plans. At noon the 
New York left the fleet and flag behind, rounded 
the headlands of the firth and plunged into North 
Sea winter weather. The gale drove dead ahead. 
We slowed as the sea increased, to give some chance 
to the destroyers which had come to screen us, 
but even this proved futile. The heavy chop slap- 
ped our great bows till we trembled even under ten 
knots speed. Sheets of white spray hid the 
destroyers entirely from our view except at inter- 
vals when we caught them roaring over wave 
crests. A day of such strain taxed them so heavily 
that when the darkness came they all were turned 
aside to make their way to the Firth of Forth and 
leave us to our fate, unguarded. 

Nearly all hands stood watch through the night. 
We were rewarded, for the gale fell gradually flat. 
But a dense morning fog replaced the wind, which 
pleased the capjtain even less. How we found the 
Firth of Tyne seemed miraculous, for we couldn't 
see a ship's length. There was whistling enough 



74 BFATTY, JELLTCOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

as we passed the many black bulls ol' inerchnnhnen 
outbound from tlie moulli, and afler nearly rani- 
mini;- two of ibem Ihe fog began lo lift before a 
brilliant sunrise. 

Between the great breakwalers of I he river's 
mouth we steamed, on into I he narrowing inlet, a. 
marvel of the industrial world, a war develop- 
ment of England. Solid ships in all eonstruetion 
stages lined its banks, closing to within a few 
hundred feet of us on either side. The Imge fac- 
tories behind the great hulls clattered, steamed, and 
belched their activities as a swarm of struggling 
tugs kept our ship in midstream. Dense and more 
dense grew this lane of industry as we moved along 
it, and as our towering basket masts loomed u|) 
between the rears of thickly i)lante(l buildings, 
great crowds rushed out and swarmed the docks. 
When they realized the full significance of the 
briglit new ensign floating proudly from the yards 
of the strange gray monster they beheld, a mighty 
cheer went up from these crowds along the river 
banks, sustained and nndlii)lie(l as we slowly 
forced our way around each bend. To them for 
the first time, America had come. 

Rounding a sharp turn we were confronted sud- 
denly by a Imge basin-like all'air, a lloaling dry 
dock. Few of us had ever seen a dock of this tyi)e, 
for our navy prefers the graving, or basin-tyi)c 
dock. A floating dock operates in exactly the 
reverse manner from a graving dock. It consists 



OUT OF THE WATER 7.5 

essentially of a ponloon with a deck large enough 
to take tije vessel to he docked, with pontoon sides 
extending upward from it. This dock is suh- 
inerg(id }>y allowing the pontoons to fill with water, 
and the vessrtl is fl(;ated into it. The water is 
then pumped out of tlie j>ontoons and the dock 
rises, lifting \.\i(t sfiip with it. Picture then, the 
enormous smt of the floating dock wliich would 
lift a dreadnaught! (gradually we passed be- 
tween its sides, were lashed and "shored" up, 
and began the sUjady rise. Over the side went the 
bluejack(*ts, swarming on the "stage planks" 
hung by rope c-ompl(;tc;iy around the ship, to start 
the clcjaning of the; grc'at liull. Witli brooms and 
scrapers they worked in their filtfiiest clothes, all 
day, lowering their stages to follow the receding 
wat(T down the; slimy liuil. For when wet, marine 
growth droj)s easily from the underbody, but must 
be scrapcid with much (effort when dry. Dry-dock 
work is always rushed, for other vessels are waiting 
their turn. Picture the rush this time, by a crew 
who knew that the; first half who were finished couM 
go on leave at once! it was a thorough job and in 
record time. Before nightfall the hull was clean 
and dry, ready for the first coat of antifouling 
paint n(;xt morning. 

()nc-e bci(jw decks the business of deciding to go 
on leave, typewriting a request, obtaining per- 
mission from Captain Hughes, packing, and leav- 
ing for Prance consumed just forty-five minutes. 



7C BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODIVLVN 

Off into the misty nii;lit we sloaniod in a fifty- 
footer, leaving behind us the usual ehaotic dry- 
doek state of a ship at the mercy of ek^elrie rivet- 
ters and buzzing bh)w-lorehes. Raised out of I lie 
sea in her lofty cradle the great ship loomed like a 
mountain as we drew away through her far-reach- 
ing twilight shadow. 

Scarcely knowing where we might end up, we 
boarded the train at Newcastle next morning for 
London. Men were on that train with us, retiu-n- 
ing to the dreaded south, whose full equipment 
packs and deep-rimmed eyes bespoke their dread- 
ful, noble destination. Even in this industrial 
city of the north, khaki predominated all. 
Everywhere, the letters "S.O.S." would catch the 
eye. It was England's motto in her stress, per- 
force adopted: *'Save or Starve." Save she 
certainly did, it soon became all too apparent. The 
meal we had, the applogy for one, seemed scarcely 
dog-sized. IMoney could not buy more. We ate 
by law. Still, smilingly, the people throve on just 
this fare from habit, and we felt that such an Eng- 
land could not starve. A lieutenant of a British 
machine-gun corps had entered our compart- 
ment, fresh from Cambrai. His wits were bristling 
with recent memories of things that tend to make 
men age by weeks. With incidents and tragedies of 
how his troop division, 2, ()()() strong had marched 
against Cambrai and returned with 5W fighting 
strength, he wliiled away that ride to London. 



OUT OF THE WATER 77 

There, in the blue lights of a darkened city, we 
rushed about from department to department of 
the Naval Headquarters in vain efforts to gain 
permission and the needed passports to visit 
France. Finally, as described elsewhere herein, 
we obtained them personally from our great and 
much-loved Admiral Sims. It was a weird night, 
with an attempted air raid in the early morning, 
which made us the more glad to leave for Folk- 
stone in the forenoon. 

Our American uniforms secured our seats, 
which to the public were long sold out. Looking 
from the car window to the masses on the plat- 
form was perhaps the saddest sight in the world 
those days. Men were leaving again, leaving all 
that they loved, for the horrors and the glory of the 
trenches. The platforms swarmed not alone with 
soldiers but with weeping wives, mothers, sweet- 
hearts, friends, who knew they would likely never 
see the parting ones again. It seemed as though 
the train would never move, but when at last it 
did, and we saw hope pass out of the tear-dimmed 
eyes of hundreds who remained, there was no 
heart for conversation. Sending a man to camp 
or even to hazy "overseas" is greatly different from 
departure for "to-morrow in the trenches." Col- 
umns of infantry with full equipment were already 
filing up the gangplanks when we reached the chan- 
nel steamers. There was no emotion here. Men 
were returning to their business, the only busi- 



78 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

ness they had known lor lliroo long years. Com- 
pany after company crowdoil the shij^s before we 
gained onr passage, for (he enslonis and military 
aulhorilies here were nllra slriel. Only the magie 
of four letters finally lei us through, the precious 
S-I-M-S, without which we ne\er could have 
crossed to France. 

Si uud I a neously with the appearance of four des- 
troyers foaming toward the harbour mouth, both 
vessels cast loose and were under way. An order 
at once passed over the ship for all hands to don 
life preservers. The ofHcer enforcing this on our 
deck first stopped and glared at us without them, 
then smiled in recognition of the uniform. It 
seemed ridicidous indeed, yet England's record of 
transporting thirteen million troops across this 
channel with a loss of only twenty -seven hundred 
lives must be mainlained. 

At fifteen knots the chalky white clay cliffs 
soon faded in the norlhern mists, and disappear- 
ing left us straining to pick up France. JNIidway 
we passed the opposile-l)ound channel convoy 
from Boulogne, and leaving it were thrilled to see 
the rolling shores of France gleam through the sun- 
lit haze. Gradually we neared the harbour of 
Boulogne w4th its myriad of sailing lishermen con- 
verging with us to the shelLer of the huge break- 
water. Instead of standing on our course into 
the harbour, we suddenly wheeled about antl to our 
amazement proceeded up the channel full speed 



OUT OF THE WATER 79 

backward! This custom is necessitated by the 
tremendous rise and fall of tide, which at the ebb, 
permits no depth for turning in the water. 

Boulo/^Tie lay there, a town in arms behind the 
lines. It had been made one of the greatest trans- 
portation arteries to the western front, lying, in 
fact, but four lic>ijrs behind the lines. Troops 
swarmed this camp-town, waiting their despatch. 
Long lines of railroad cars and trucks blocked every 
highway, steam n;placing gasolene in large part for 
fuel. Many of the trucks were driven by small 
steam engines which puffed noisily along the 
strcicts. The railroad tracks and yards were jam- 
med with cars which seemed always to be moving 
in or out. There was no loafing here, no rest. 
For rest meant ruin. 

After a meal at the temporary officers' club, a 
meal which at once revealed the far better food 
situation which France enjoyed, we left in a car 
for Wimereux, that once famous summer resort of 
northern France, which had been converted into 
one of her gr(;at(;st hospital centres. From all 
parts of the fighting front wounded man were sent 
here as their immediate danger stage was passed. 
Not only had all casinos, pavilions, hotels and 
resorts been utilized to house the patients, but 
miles and miles of temporary buildings had been 
built and used. Nurses in khaki seemed to be 
everywhere, and a few wore white. Hundreds of 
ambulances, driven by men and f>y women, plied 



BO BEATTV, .TETJ.ICOE. SIMS. AND T^ODIMAN 

iibont tlio base on ooiiulloss orrniuls. Tlioro wore 
groat outdoor kilohons, slooping paA'ilions, bar- 
racks of ovory sorl . Soinol imos I ho wouiulod lay in 
cots on lawns or on tlio boaoh, and all woro dividod 
into camps of tlioir own nalionalily. It sooniod 
like reviewing exhibits at a fair lo jiass the (lags 
of every Allied nation living above the various 
camps, all races, continents and lH)tli hemispheres 
here represented. From the hills at the norlheru 
side we could see the onlposlod palrol of blimps 
and planes, as they floated incessantly back and 
forth, leaving with us a sense of living behind a 
barrier. And then, returning, we passed a huge 
meadow in which no flowers grew, but in their 
j)lace long lines of small white crosses fading in the 
distance. Description does injustice to this sight. 
One must see it at a time like that, and feel it. 

We had eaten dinner and were waiting for the 
midnight train to Paris when one more thrill 
dropped on the quiet night. The town was sud- 
denly alive, for by a wonderfully i)orfoctod system 
the warning of a coming air raid had been passed 
to every ear. Not a light remained in town to 
guide us as we tried to catch some glimpse of the 
intruders. The sky guns on the hills cracked and 
boomed as their shells ilew into space, but low- 
flying clouds broke up the visibility. Just as we 
were concluding that another false alarm had been 
sent out, the ground we stood on trond)lod and a 
dull flash nerved us for the shocking roar. Less 



OUT OF THE WATER 81 

than a mile away a bomb had landed in the centre 
of a city street. On our return from Paris, three 
days later, we had time to visit that spot and see a 
city block in ruin. The torn pavement had been 
hurled througli the walls of buildings, two of which 
had fallen. Stone ornaments and fixtures had 
crashed to the pavement and not a single window 
in the block remained unshattered. There was a 
casually list to grit the teeth and look at, but the 
people heeded little such an incident. Theirs 
was a bigger task, to win the war. 

On the floor of a coach we slept, or attempted to 
sleep, the jerky, noisy ride to Paris, sharing our 
compartment with two officers of the Royal Flying 
C'orps. Toward nine o'clock, two hours late, we 
entered the city of our destination, a fighting, 
hopeful, manless city, Paris. Manless, for only the 
chaff were left without uniforms. The women, 
too, wore blue or white in large proportion — 
all in the service, striving for one end. A strange 
emptiness could be felt in the streets, then as at no 
later time, for when the American soldiers came, 
they reawakened Paris. (Crutches and slings and 
campaign ribbons in plenty bespoke the Marne. 
Girls in the banks and stores and cars pronounced 
the sacrifice. Yet there was food in plenty, such 
as England had not seen for years. Paris had 
suffered from the air less frequently than London, 
but with heavier bonibs. Some had been drop- 
ped which were reported to be 1,000-pound pro- 



s> iJEA'rrv. ji:llux)e, stms. and uodisian 

joctilos. All stalunry and fine cnrviiii;' in llio city 
had boon or wore lHnii«;' onoasoil with sandbags 
for protection, Icavinji^ no art to be seen. 

One of our most inleresling ineidenls in Paris 
proved to be our (juesl of a (rernian lu^lnuM. 
After some hours of endeavour we succeeded in 
locating two of them, but neillier could be sep- 
arated from its owner. We were abandoning I he 
search, when a woman, who had overhead our 
conversation in a small store, ventured that she 
had one we might like. Leaving a card to tell 
where she could send it, I scarcely expected to 
hear of it again. Nevertheless there was delivered 
to us, just before we left, a l)ox containing the 
desired helmet and this unusual though char- 
acteristically French note: 

Sir: 

Here are the "Souvenirs" that T promised to you yesterday 
afternoon. I am sorry to seiul you t)nly liiis "('asijue de 
trenchee's" and IJavarian cap, but I join to tlicm a better 
thinjj;; a tiny l)il of aeroplane eominj:; from a machine whieli 
our Guynemer destroyed a few months before liis death, poor 
kid! 

I give it /() you l)eeause you were mueli more confident in 
me tlian your conu'ade who, it is <]uite easy to see, lias beiMi 
tauglit to be very, very careful with French women! l\c- 
sides, lie is quite right, and it is certainly tlie best thing for 
you botli to <lo just now, as Paris is sometimes more danger- 
ous than "U "-boats. Hut I think ttiat, in my (piality of 
French, I mud lielp our Allies as far as I can do il, and it is a 
great pleasure for me to say that 1 like to see you coming 



OUT OF 'II fE WATER 83 

b) us rJuriri;.^ Uiis fiorri'l Ira^f-zly, as loyally as yon tWd, and 
t.fi;i.f. I wouM \)<: ])\<-:i.:-.(:ii U) provc t/> you for my own part, how 
faro(jroM I'miic*: is ^^raUrful loyjur li'-aufiful " .\Tot.fx-r lan^J." 
('>i)(l \)\<:Hi y<)\i ari'J your friorifi.anfj find Ijcn- my Ijftst, nrganln 
wilfi all my j>l»;asijrc-, Ui give Bfjmcthing to the Great War. 

'^Ilic sliorf.ap^f-, of rr)(;r) irj iJifi r-ily afForHf^fJ a de- 
cided Hirugglf; l<) dirjr* alone. Karlj meal created 
the same experience, most amusedly. In its gay 
Hpots, Paris liv(;d the same life it had l<nr>wn in 
peace days. I'he times afforded some excuse for 
mad conduct, and liaving seen the state of Im- 
morality existing in some parts one ceased to won- 
der that thci fighters in the trenches were glad to 
learn oi' Iran's being air homliCfi! Yet thc-re is a 
fascination to this wild side of i'aris unlike that to 
[jc fciurjd (tlsewhent in tlie, world. 

So muf;lj for J'aris; but witJi our prohibitive 
orders we had not a chance of seeing wliat we most 
desired — th(; real front. On the morning of Wash- 
ington's Birthday the idea occurred to us that 
something might be accomplished in the air. This 
happy thought soon had us hustling to the Ameri- 
can Aviation h(;adquarters which we located by 
the interminate line of [J. S. motor trucks parked 
on tlie curbs outside. A hicky break gave us an 
army car and rJ river for the day, and started us for 
the great I'VencFi testing fields at Viiiacoublay, 
about an hour distant. 

On the sea we knew little of the air. We had 
not taken time to f(;llow its advance. Imagine, 



84 BEATTY, JELLICOi:, SUMS, AND RODMAN 

then, our sensalion al coinint;- siKldoiily upon the 
niiinunoth licld at Villacoublay. Too hu^c an 
enterprise to associate wilh airi)huies, too stagger- 
ing a revelation at once to be assimilated, we stood 
and gazed aniazedly. There lay before us as we 
passed inside the fence, a vast oval plain perhaps 
two miles across, bordered on all si(k\s l)y scores of 
great hangars housing up to twelve machines 
apiece. All types of planes were represented here, 
some flying, some pulled out and resting on the 
plain, some standing in their sheds like sleeping 
dragon flies. Triplanes, biplanes, monoplanes, 
from huge bombers to the tiniest scout, some nearly 
obsolete, more of the newest types, made up a fleet 
conservatively numbering fifteen hundred i)lanes. 
It was the consunnnalion of the dreams of Wilbur 
Wright. Hours could have passed in simple ob- 
servation; but we were there to fly. It was not 
long before Lieutenant ChS,tan, a French army 
pilot to whom we bore an introduction, arrived to 
make some test ilights. At Villacoublay no one 
thinks flying out of ordinary. ChS-tan seemed de- 
lighted to find some one really keen to fly. He 
wore two bars and palm on his Croix de Guerre, 
had been retired temporarily from the front with 
minor injuries. To him Hying had become as 
natural as to drive his car. His real work lay with 
the wireless telephone and synchronization of ma- 
chine-gun fire through rotating propeller blades. 
Neither my comrade nor I had ever flown. 



OUT OF THE WATKR S5 

Lieutenant Chat^n was to rriake four flights — two 
for each of us. With a few directions to his me- 
chanics and a glance here and there ChAtan jumped 
into his cockpit and was ready. I had hurried into 
a borrowed flying suit and climbed behind him. 
Jn a tremendous whir we left the ground, and for 
the first time I felt that delicious sailing sensation 
of a 'plane. Up — up — up — the appreciation of 
our eighty-mile spe^id soon was lost, for there was 
nothing passing, no jxjrspective. The forests be- 
low looked like toy sticks in a sand pile, while the 
great flying field and its surroundings might have 
been for football. Versailles and Paris lay below 
us at a single glance, set in the rolling landscape 
of France, four thousand feet beneath. Into the 
fleecy clouds the pilot wove his way, blotting out 
the earth completely. Then suddenly our nose 
turned downward and we banked sharply on a 
curve. The curve continued and blood rushed to 
my head as our speed increased to 120 miles an 
hour. 7'he motor ceased to roar as I saw the pro- 
f>ellcr lag. Earth, sky, horizon, all were one for an 
instant; then with a jerky upward glide our tumble 
checked. The motor cracked and hummed again 
as we glided smoothly. A huge court lay beneath 
us, scarcely five hundred feet away, surrounded by 
huge marble buildings. We had done a spiral 
nose dive over the Palace at \'ersailles! 

On the second flight we travelled north and east, 
flying at three thousand feet. Ch^tan broke the 



86 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

silence with a gesture. "There," he shouted, "you 
can discern the second Hnes. We must turn back, 
for we are unarmed." I agreed with him. Above 
the great fiekl he ran down a graceful letter S as he 
circled the desired landing spot, without his motor 
turning. Gliding to earth he switched on his mo- 
tor, bounded forward as he touched the field, and 
jerked along until finally, cutting off the spark, the 
dainty Nieuport came to rest with lagging propeller, 
a stone's throw from its hangar. Such a demon- 
stration of control and development in the air left 
me assured that sea life was too tame a calling in 
this day and age. To any one who doubts the fu- 
ture of the airplane I recommend a single visit to 
such a field as Villacoublay, where the thought, the 
work, the future of the cause is built in terms of air. 

Next morning found us in Boulogne, returning. 
The trip had been more quiet and permitted sleep. 
We visited the scene of damage we had witnessed 
in the air raid, and made our way without event 
to England with the cheery troops returning for 
their well-earned leave. There were several hours 
in darkened London, which on Sunday night af- 
forded small attraction to a stranger. Captain 
Hughes and many other officers had joined us on 
the train which brought us into Newcastle, quite 
sleepless, at five a.m. 

Down the narrow river Tyne we sped with the 
tide, in a special boat, until with great relief we 
caught a welcome glimpse of the towering basket 



OUT OF THE WATER 87 

tops, raised far above the river mists of dawn. 
Soon a huge wall of red lay squarely in our course. 
The great hull had received its first dressing, and 
glistening, bespoke its fine condition. On watch 
at once, the hammering, tearing, shouting week of 
dry-dock ordeal began for those of us whose lot had 
been the first division of the leave. 

The real purpose of this dry-dock period for the 
New York had nearly been completed. She was 
dry-docked, primarily, to be rigged to carry para- 
vanes, those steel fish-line devices which are towed 
from the bows of a ship and plane outward on a 
steel cable to protect a ship in mine-infested waters. 
Briefly, a paravane is made up of a hollow, tor- 
pedo-shaped body, crossed by a steel plane ter- 
minating in two floats. Horizontal and vertical 
rudders form a tail and it is equipped with a cable- 
cutting jaw. In operation a paravane is towed 
on either side of a ship by a single cable attached to 
the bow below the surface near the bottom of the 
hull. The paravanes plane out on either side of the 
ship to a distance (jf about thirty feet, held there 
by the angle at which the vertical rudder is set. 
Its plane member and its horizontal rudder hold 
the paravane on its course and at the proper depth. 
On either side of the ship's fo'castle a boom is rig- 
ged with tackle which hoists or lowers the paravane 
out and in. The cables from this boom remain 
attached but are slacked when the paravane is 
operating. Thus a V-shaped wedge is formed 



88 BEATTY, JELLICOE. SIMS, AND RODMAN 

across the ship's bows, fending olT wlialovcr comes 
in contact. Mines, which arc attached to cables 
running to the bottom, are engaged by the para- 
vane wire and shde along it on their own cable 
until they come to the jaw. The jaw cuts the mine 
cable and the mine rises harmlessly to the surface. 
Their effectiveness has been repeatedly proven in 
the mine zone by every type of vessel. Ships trav- 
elling at high speeds experience considerable dilli- 
culty with paravanes, owing to the breakage of the 
towing wire under the increased strain, which 
seems to be their only fault. The serious losses 
incurred by enemy mines in the early stages of the 
war were almost entirely eliminated by the use of 
Britain's great invention, paravanes. It was with 
a sense of profound relief indeed that we greeted the 
installation of paravane equipment in our ship, for 
we had heretofore regarded the mine as a far more 
treacherous weapon than the torpedo. 

One day of that week in dry dock provided an 
experience never to be forgotten. Vaguely we had 
learned that one of the greatest British munition 
factories was close at hand, but that the strictness 
of war measures made it practically impossible to 
gain admittance. Two of us determined to take 
a chance, however, and by reference to Captain 
Hughes and the New York we managed to get past 
a dozen sentries to a receiving room. Here two 
men took identification data from us, telephoned 
the ship and finally carried our cards to Sir l*ercy 




Admiral lir-atly C^liatling with llic King 

Uj) fli<- («(iihioii of ;i vJHJI of Kifi^ Ci<;or^«; Ut tin; (jrand J"'l«;<;t » i'lagiihip, 
Quien Klizaheth 




= — s 






— — y> 



.i = w^ 



^^^BE 


rgjPBpf ^^Wf H^^l 


r^^v" 



Admiral Rodman and His Four Original ("a|)l;iin,s 

Left lo right: Captain Scales, Captain Wiley, Captain VVa.sliin^,'lnn, 
( "aplaiii I Inches 




"SixLccii Blue!" 

The Anieriean Stiuadrou exeeuting a right about turn while niancenvring 
with the Grand Fleet 



OUT OF THE WATER 89 

Girouard, one of the principals of this vast concern) 
the "Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth Connpany." 
Our status established, they could not do enough 
for us. After luncheon in the directors' dining 
room. Sir Percy outlined what the plant comprised, 
then detailed one of his assistants to be our guide. 

There are many centres in the web of a great war 
which, in the clamour of the front-line contact of the 
infantry, we are wont to overlook. It is the power 
behind that pushes on the fighting men, the unseen 
forces which maintain them. Ileal ization of this 
truth struck rmt for th(; first time as we passed 
through building after building of this mammoth 
plant dedicated to the industry of war. For three 
solid miles along the waterfront the buildings were 
massed, perhaps four deep. Within their walls 
the labour of seventy-five thousand men and 
women was bent incessantly on the production 
and dispatch of every sort of war machine and pro- 
jectile in use. It was the answer of Vulcan to the 
call of Mars. Organization carried the great de- 
partments independently from units of a whole 
down to the corner that was making some tiny 
article. The sh(*ll department had grown within 
itself in twenty months from two thousand to 
thirty-five thousand persons, 50 per cent, of whom 
were women. There were shells of every sort in 
mighty heaps from fourteen-inch explosive siege 
shells to machine-gun and rifle bullets in hundreds 
of thousands. We traced them from the foundries 



90 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

where the molten metal glared, to the freight cars 
in the shipping houses, bound for London. There 
were the guns themselves, literally miles of them, 
naval guns and army guns, six-pounders to the 
tremendous 14-inch rifles mounted on railway car- 
riages, with all their intricate mechanism and 
equipment. They could be seen red hot as cast- 
ings, dropped, shrinking, forging, tooling, wire- 
winding or at any stage of ordnance manufacture 
in this labyrinth of incessant toil, toil, toil. An 
endless chain of ships and freight cars brought in 
fuel and raw materials. Another train plied day 
and night to rush the finished product to the fight- 
ing fronts. There seemed to be no limit to the 
stream of output, for the swarm of employees were 
working as their brothers fought, that they might 
live. Nor was their fashioning of metal limited to 
guns and shells. Tanks, submarines, torpedoes, 
turrets, even destroyers were in construction, each 
involving a complete factory. As we entered each 
new unit we were shown the interesting features of 
construction until at the end of two hours I felt 
the grim realization that the industry and brains 
of our world had turned to a new and stupendous 
object: war. Behind such plants the British na- 
tion lay, for the success of her armies rested here. 
No glory for this great army slaving in the dingy 
rattle and roar of the machine shops. They are 
slaves to the cause. The men in the first line call 
for guns, for shells; they get them, little realizing 



OUT OF THE WATER 91 

the untiring toil that puts them **over the top." 
The afternoon was far too short, but left us with a 
new sense of insignificance, of admiration for the 
mighty British nation. 

The remainder of that week in dry dock was con- 
sumed with returning obligations to the city of 
Newcastle. The ship looked splendid beneath her 
shiny coat of paint and well repaid our guests their 
visits. The shouting of orders, the creak of strain- 
ing hawsers, the droning of holystones on the deck 
above, which wakened me on Saturday morning, 
served also to disclose a flooded dry dock. There 
remained but to secure for sea, be warped away 
by a host of tugs, and then farewell. We passed 
from the land to join the fleet, completely re- 
created. 

Our approach to the sea had been long heralded 
to the patrols, and with good reason. Three times 
a ship which had left the dry dock on the Tyne had 
been met by immediate attack. One of these de- 
stroyed the battleship. King Edward VII. Infor- 
mation from an inside source is suspected to leak 
out concerning the movements of dry-docked ves- 
sels. Therefore our reception by patrols was made 
complete. As we passed the harbour breakwaters 
the dark bluffs, sharply silhouetted in the western 
sunlight, stood out as a friendly haven, hard to 
leave. Two bombing seaplanes, huge and laden, 
swept above our channel, back and forth. Four 
mine sweepers passed in, returning, their duty done 



92 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODINIAN 

for us. A fanlike sliiold of motor humdios, armed 
with depth bombs, si)read before us Iwenly strong, 
and still beyond our own destroyers lay, for all the 
world like pawing, neighing mounts awaiting the 
chase, as they breathed out their volumes of inky 
smoke. Battle stations sounded sharply. Our 
paravanes, swinging on the davits, look their initial 
plunge. The wires luunmed as they tautened 
with the strain of the planing bodies, and we felt 
secure. Our secondary battery scarcely hat! been 
manned, with powder only coming up the hoists 
when "Train on submarine bearing ,50" came rush- 
ing down the voice tube from control. Four 
seconds made us ready. Four vessels of our van- 
guard were converging on the spot and found no 
scent replying to their tearing bombs. They sought 
in vain the vanished periscope, joined by a hundred 
lookouts. No movement, no suspicion broke the 
fading dusk. One by one our escort dwindled as 
the little fellows turned away. Their part was 
done. For theirs is a game in which the victor has 
no spoils to claim, only a silent victory, protecting. 
Our path lay to the deep sea with the destroyers. 
The airplanes circled, rose, turned westward, dis- 
appeared. Clouds streaked out great blotches in 
the glowing west which cast a gloomy shadow on 
our flank as we veered northward, opened up to 
eighteen knots and squared away. 



CHAPTER VII 

BACKING BI:ATTY 

OPEItATIONB OF THE AMEKICAN BATTLE HQUADItON 
IN THE NORTH WEA, 1017-1018 

Oh, v)on(lrouH hmr I Oh, mighty jxriver I 

Oh, work of ntorlal man I 
Your cauae i.i jud — (juard v)eU your trust. 

Ah only real raaa can. 
Stand fa-it for right throuyhout your Jiyht 

To keep the ocean free: 
We Htand or fall, we ntake our all. 

When the Grand Fleet yoeH to sea. 

— E. E. Wilson. 

IlfAD always certain misgivings," fJeclarcd 
Admiral Bcatly, after tlic surrender of the 
(fitnnun fleet, "and when the Sixth Bat- 
tle Squadron became a part of the Grand Fleet 
those misgivings were doubly strengthened. I 
knew then they would throw up their hands. Ap- 
parently, the Sixth Battle Squadron was the last 
straw that broke the camel's back." 

To describe just how this "last straw broke the 
camel's back," its part in accomplishing the great 
end, involves t(.-lling the story of the year of oper- 
ations of our Battle Squadron witli the Grand Fleet 
under the dashing Admiral Beatty. To the aver- 
age person, the most surprising feature of that 



J) I nr./vn V, .ikm.k'oi:. sii\is, and kodman 

your of cooiHM-jilion in I lie Allied Hiivics is ilio 
iibsoiiccM)!* a cjipihil tMi<^ji^('m(MiL Tluil I his should 
cause siiri)rise is due in I he lirsl |)lace lo (he hazy 
iiiKKMslaiidiM^ which prevails, of even I he mosi I'lm- 
daiiieiilal phases of naval warfare lo Ihc lack of 
realizalioii Ihal "llu* i\a\y is a shield and iiol a 
ral [Wui^ sabre." 

When Ihe American IJallle Sijuadron joined the 
(Iraiid Fleel of |{nlain in December, I!) 1 7, thai 
f^real force was lyirii;- (inielly in ils norlhern base al 
Scapa r'low, a harbour of Ihe Orkney Islands. A 
few days afler our arrival I clind)ed lo Ihe cresi of 
a liill on a lillle island called I^'lolla, lo look over 
ihal greal, laiidlockcMl harbour. Spread out l)e- 
low me, swini^iui;' aindessly lo Ihe whims of Ihe 
eddying" currenls, lay lIuMilraud hMeel. No lillle 
awe did I hose shi|)s inspire, mini;lin<;" with Ihe ^ray 
of oarlh and sky and sea. One lhou,i;hl alone 
kei)l throbbing' before me, Ihal I beheld, in Ihal 
scjuare mile of lislless ships, Ihe only barrier Ihal 
lay belween a dee(Md earlh and a llendish, llunnish 
chaos. Could he Ihrollle Ihal Heel wluM-e il lay, 
the llun would eonlrol ihe seas. And control of 
the seas uuisl, ullimalely, prevail. Small won- 
der ihal Ihe eyes of Ihe world were wilh mine 
as I fjazed on Ihal complex, sleely fabric, Ihe 
sure shield Ihal had |)rolecle<l Ihe world and main- 
tained Ihe armies of freedom ihrough Ihree Jon^ 
years. 

The following week, for Ihc lirsl liuie since our 



BACKING BEATTY 95 

arrival, w(t went l,r> s(;a. '\\i(t Cirancj lU'cX was on 
oru; of h(;r many 'M)ait,irig" (exploits, involving Uic 
en lint Allied sea forces. The British tossed such 
exploits off in scorn Ixjcause througli weeks, and 
inonllis, Jinrl yc;i,rs, all trials and tricks liad failed 
to coax tfic Hun from liis protcct(;(i lair. To evade 
the prowling submarines which lay for ever in our 
harbour mouths, w<; sailed, according to the cus- 
tom in the black of night. No glimmcT of light, 
no sound, n^vctalcd a single ship. A delicate clock, 
a gyro (;omj)ass, a patent log, and a litth; group of 
men within each hull, c:ontroll(;d th(; destinies of 
nations. A hundred strong those great gray mon- 
st(;rs wound th(;ir way through the layers of ncjts 
and fields of min(;s; mast(;red the rocks and shoals 
of Penlland Firth and passed on to the sea, un- 
heralded, unknown. To the veteran British it 
had become; routine; to us it was a revelation. 
Again, the; triumph r>f navigation. 

When I came on <l(;ck in th(! blazing sunrise of 
the following morning, I beh(;ld a sight which sent 
a thrill from tip to toe, and which, once seen, could 
never Ix; forgotten. The; (jlrand Fleet stretc;lK;d 
away b(tl'orc me, a veritable cordon of living steel, 
touching the arc of heaven either way! No 
longer the grc^yhounds of Scapa lolling listlessly, 
and sl(M'[)ily about their kctnnels. Went was the 
I)ack in full cry, belching d(;nse volumtts of black 
smoke as th(;y spctd on dctfiantly to catch the scent. 
Millions of dollars and thousands of men! The 



1)G BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODJMAN 

glorious acc'omplislinuMil of yonrs of loll jiiul Iio[h\ 
for an ideal. To work wilh il, lo lij'lil wilh il, lo 
1)0 a part of I his vast array was our lot for nionlhs 
as we skirted the enemy's coasts from Heligoland 
lo Norway. 

This lirsl endea\'our bore no frnil. The enemy 
did not appear in any form. IVrhaps for us it was 
as well, for we were intensely oeeupied with I he 
task of merging ourselves wilh I he l^rilish navy. 
We were aelually l)eing grafled on lo a great parent 
tree. The task nuisl have l)een eonsuining for 
those in connnand. AN'e hear frequently of the 
trials and despair eneountered by I hose divisions 
of our army thai were foreetl lo give up their 
Ameriean ways, their American ecpiipmenl, their 
American eonnnand. lUil I hey had time for 
readjustment, opporlunily lo confer, margins for 
error. Not so with navies. We found our- 
selves at once in the enemy's territory, supposedly 
' ready for allack, a new unit of a great force which 
had been drilled to the utmost perfection; operating 
in formations and de[)h)yments entirely new; using 
a totally si range system of signals, Hags, and codes. 
For the signal force il meant forget at once I heir 
life's work and begin all over. It was day and 
night for them, but they stuck to it. Mistakes 
gradually diminished, unlil they faded completely 
away. But on I ha I lirsl sally more than once we 
held our brealh. The wireless force found itself 
in no better plight, with changed atmosphere, more 




^ / 




'jr^^r;.^/'^'-' ... 




■'I ■ / 



^, /%'■; 



f y vj A 



-^ 






ev^--'''" 



"» 1. 



'iOttX^//////////////^^^^^^ 



War Chart of the North Sf;a 

Oiifliriing r;x;u:t, oourwai of tfie American Haf,tl«; S^jinwlrofi wfiil«; ofxiralirit; as 
a unif. «f t.h»: <^jrand FleBt. Tlif; HJia^li;'! arf;a« ifi'Jif:ate allied mixue ficl'Ja. 
Note North Sea miue barrage acro«» northern cntraiice. 

&7 



98 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

interferences — a myriad of them — different Hert- 
zian wave lengths and strange operators to receive 
from! It was disheartening to the man who had 
considered himself expert. But there we were, 
at sea and cleared for action — and all that could be 
done was "carry on." A few weeks later Admiral 
Rodman asked a visiting British officer what it 
was that most impressed him on his ship. To 
quote that officer, he thus replied: "To all intents 
and purposes you've dropped out of the skies plop 
into the middle of the Grand Fleet. It's a fleet 
that has been three and a half years at war. It 
belongs to the oldest and most conservative — if 
not the proudest — navy in the world. It's got 
the Armada and the Nile and Copenhagen and 
Trafalgar and Jutland to its credit, and I fancy, 
it takes a largish size in hats on the strength of it. 
It certainly has a standard by which to judge stran- 
gers. From the moment your ships rounded that 
headland the British Fleet has been sizing you up. 
Every boat that is manned and leaves your ship, 
every officer or man who moves about your decks, 
is being watched and criticized and studied by 
several thousand pairs of eyes. You live in the 
limelight. All that is apt to make a very good 
man indeed self-conscious. I came over on the 
lookout for self-consciousness, like a lady visitor 
looks out for wet paint on board. I've been ten 
hours in your flagship, and I've talked to samples 
of every rank and rating. I've only seen one per- 



BACKING BEATTY 99 

son self-conscious under friendly scrutiny. I 
caught sight of myself in the looking glass." 

Twice within a month we changed our base be- 
tween Rosyth and Scapa, led by the Queen Eliza- 
beth. We had learned thereby the British escort 
system and had cruised with British submarines — 
those 23-knot monster *'tinfish" called the "K" 
class. We learned sadly enough what the North 
Sea winter meant — a seething cauldron in a drench- 
ing mist. Then, on the 6th of February, came our 
first exploit — alone. 

The zest fell out of the morning drills when we 
learned that something big was In the air. Rumours 
of an operation were confirmed at noon, for we 
went to two hours' notice for steam, and then se- 
cured for sea. The squadron drifter, lying at our 
stern, requested of the officer of the deck permis- 
sion to remain astern as usual for the night. 
"Yes," he replied, "if you can do 19 knots." At 
four we had our orders. The Sixth Battle Squad- 
ron was to shield a convoy bound for Bergen, 
Norway; to get between the convoy and the bases 
of the enemy, and stay there, come what might. 
It was a thrilling prospect. The evening, clear, 
bleak, quiet, was distinctly lavender; lighted, ap- 
parently, more by the snow-powdered hills than the 
gray sky. Silently, on signal, one by one, our four 
majestic bows swung into stately column which 
seemed rather to glide than be driven through 
the sea, so gentle was the throbbing of our mighty 



100 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

screw-beats. Gradually we passed down the long 
lines of the Grand Fleet, superdreadnaughts, 
dreadnaughts, battle cruisers, cruisers, light cruis- 
ers and destroyers; silent, powerful, stretching to 
the very nets. 

The nets! It would be unfitting not to dwell 
a moment on the service of the nets and the patrols 
of the Grand Fleet, for without their unswerving 
aid our operations would have been short-lived. 
At the outbreak of the war Great Britain possessed 
some four hundred vessels. When the Armistice 
was signed, more than five thousand flew the British 
flag, including some seventeen hundred trawlers, 
converted from a hundred peaceful sea pursuits to 
be patrol vessels, net guard vessels, mine sweepers, 
etc. The steam fishing fleets became a little navy 
within the great navy itself, and before the war's 
end boasted its own traditions. Outside of every 
naval base and harbour, these sturdy little sea 
worn vessels kept a never-ending vigil, day and 
night, the seasons 'round through four long years. 
They bore the daily drudgery and swept our chan- 
nels clear of mines, no matter what the weather. 
Always they shielded us from the enemy's scout- 
ing submarines which lurked ever below the sur- 
face of our harbour mouths, with a patrol that 
dotted the coast from Dover to the Shetlands. 
They gamely bore the brunt of the German des- 
troyer raids on English coastal towns, suffering 
from them heavy losses. And out there, plunging 



BACKING BEATTY 101 

up and down with every sea for months on end, 
a trawler held each hundred yards throughout the 
length of miles of barrier nets, behind which lay 
the fleet in serene safety. The conditions were 
appalling with which the super-men that formed 
the crews of those storm-scarred trawlers or drif- 
ters had to contend for their existence. None but 
a sailor, bred to the sea, could have stood it. 
Their food was seldom cooked; their clothes were 
often soaked, with all of their belongings; they had 
no exercise to speak of, scarcely room to stretch; 
and often, where I've been aboard, the air below 
decks reeked for lack of ventilation! *'Only stout 
hulls and stouter hearts" could hope to endure and 
survive. Still they drove forward on their cheer- 
less, desperate patrol, year after year, the knowl- 
edge of their service and two weeks' leave each 
year, their sole reward. But could those British 
sailors stay at home and see their unfortified coast 
towns shelled, their harmless sea industries har- 
ried, their helpless merchant commerce sunk.'^ 
They had traditions, something up to which they 
had to live and die; they did it to the everlast- 
ing glory of their lives! To quote Mr. Paine, 
*'The daily drudgery of mine sweeping is the risk- 
iest game of the war by land or sea. It is safer by 
60 per cent, as the proportionate percentage of 
casualties shows, to be in the front-line trenches 
than to stick to this job of the North Sea trawler. 
Their honour roll of dead is long and tragic, and on 



102 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

it you will read the names of ship after shi[) of 
which there were no survivors to tell how I he 
quick finish came." A poem, written in England 
by a North Sea man, is most appropriate, to 
further quote: 

"Little trawl(M', litllo tniwlor. 

Ah, so black Jigjiiiist the sky. 
With your sides all torn and battered 

And your flag but lialf-niast high. 
Did your voyage fail to ])rosi)er?" 

C/ried the little trawler, "No; 
We went out and did our duty. 

But the skii)per lies below." 

"Little trawler, little trawler. 

With the quaint old English name, 
Did the little ships before you 

Ever join in such a game?" 
" Well, I've heard my mother tell me," 

Said the trawler, "long ago. 
That Lord Howard had to use 'cm 

Just as much as Jellicoe." 

And so the entire American Battle Squadron looked 
reverently in admiration at the myriads of trawlers 
at the nets and our patrol, as we passed through 
the opened gates to the sea. On our first inde- 
pendent exploit the gods must have been with us. 
Not until we had weathered the months of storms 
which were to follow did we appreciate I he fortune 
of it for our navigation. In the mountains of 
Montana and New namj)shire I have seen such 
nights as that of our departure, but never near the 



BACKING BEATTY 103 

sea. The atmosphere was crystal clear, seeming 
to magnify each star a dozen times. The sea 
glowed with their lumination. Then, on the first 
hour of the mid-watch, the north burst into a 
brilliant arc of light and moving streamers. A 
magnificent display of the aurora borealis followed, 
rolling its curtains of delicate fire across a setting 
of reflected brilliancy. Against this arc our escort 
of destroyers stood out silhouetted sharply black, 
and it occurred to us what huge and ideal targets 
we would make for an invisible submarine which 
might })e lying to the southward. We neither 
heard nor saw a single objt^ct. It was not until 
next day, after we had successfully picked up our 
plodding 12-knot convoy, zigzagged and circled 
it, obtained our information and flanked it on the 
south that we had our first encounter with a Ger- 
man submarine. Shortly past noon our bow de- 
stroyer, well ahead, commenced firing rapidly and 
then released two depth charges. We were loaded 
in an instant, and waiting. The boiling water from 
the depth-charge shock revealed no wreckage as we 
passed close to them but the *'sub" had been at 
least prevented from harming us. The destroyer 
reported it had fired on a diving periscope. 

Next day we struck it far more lively. Morn- 
ing found us ploughing into a dense fog and very 
near the coast of Norway. The mist was slow to 
rise but finally revealed the coast against a wall of 
snow-capped mountains backing up its jagged cliffs 



104 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND ROD]VL\N 

and fjords. The sight of that strange land brought 
with it the first reaHzation of the peril which threat- 
ened our situation. There we were, four battle- 
ships, alone save for a light protective screen, with 
the entire German High Seas Fleet five hours nearer 
than our closest reinforcements, and with their 
seven twenty-eight knot battle cruisers — ^who 
knew where .f* With whatever we might engage 
we must cling to them, as long as our teeth would 
hold, hoping for summoned reinforcements. If not 
annihilated we must have been well knocked about. 
Yet the British had risked their squadrons, week 
after week, and the best that had come out to 
threaten them were enemy light cruisers. Some of 
the Hun's philosophy will long remain unfathomed. 
At two o'clock in the afternoon, promptly on a 
secret schedule, we picked up the returning convoy 
to the north'ard, bound for England. As we de- 
ployed to the southeast on our appointed duty, 
there seemed for us a dull afternoon ahead. The 
weather furnished no excitement, and as yet no 
Hun. Our gun crews tired of their never-ending 
watches, and had begun to look forward, as usual, 
to the eventful twilight. For Longfellow might 
well have revised his twilight lines for these North 
Sea eveninffs to: 



'&•- 



Between the dark and the daylight, 
When the clouds are beginning to lower, 
Comes the height of the day's preparations 
Which is known as the Submarine's hour. 




A Sea of Thought 

Ailmiral Sims and Admiral Rodman "talking it over" on the 
qnarterdeck of the Neiv York 




A Snapshot for llir Quooirs C'olkvtion 

Quoen Kiiz;il>olh of Brlijiuin sii;i]is ;i pu (uri- on tlir dock of the Xtir York 




Tho Flayship at Attoution 

During till- inspcitiou by King All)crl ami Quih-u Klizaliotli of Holgium 



BACKING BEATTY 105 

This time, however, we had broad daylight, with 
the weather fair. Strangely enough, in spite of 
every posted lookout, it was Admiral Rodman him- 
self who first observed the approaching danger. 
From the bridge below I heard him call his Chief- 
of-Staff, point out a strange black object off the 
starboard bow. Almost simultaneously the word 
was passed by lookout. Before the voice tubes 
brought it from control, the gun at which I stood 
had come to bear upon it. Then a — *' Load ! Train 
30! German submarine!" came down. A rush 
of air, the bumping shell, the breech -click — ready! 
One breathless second seemed to pass before 
"Range 2720; scale 55'' came down the tube. 
We lacked the last words: "Commence firing." The 
pointer and the trainer both were shouting "Mark! 
Mark!" as their gun mouthed hungrily, bearing 
on its prey. Seconds were precious; the delay 
must be fatal. Next instant we grasped the 
reason, and my temper fell. Our bow destroyer, 
jumping like a pouncing tiger, had lifted her keen 
bows clear out of water in a mass of foam before 
her thirty knots. Thrusting between us and the 
submarine, she hurled herself upon the foe. Sec- 
onds only were between them as the latter dived. 
A dull vibration shook the ship and tore the sea to 
bits as the first depth charge exploded. As re- 
feree, we would have called the duel ofiP. But 
scarcely was this episode completed, when Florida, 
in line abreast to starboard, took up the game. Her 



lOG BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS. AND RODMAN 

siren shrieked a warninc: as she jammed her helm 
to port, nearly grazinij; the U^i/ominifs stern. The 
torpedo shot across her bows, missed, sped on to 
obhvion. Signals flew. The shutters of our searcli- 
lights clattered ceaselessly, l)acked by a mass 
of lloating l)unting at the yardarms. Convoy, 
escort, cruisers, were informed of the impending 
danger, warned against it. Hound two had ended! 
Then Delaware stepped into the ring. Suddenly, 
with that same ungodly siren shriek she wheeled 
180° to starboard. Iler five-inch battery an- 
nounced that she had found no phantom foe; but 
firing would not stop the two pale greenish streaks 
diverging through the water toward her bows. 
They cleared her, but the narrow margin left a sour 
taste in all their mouths for days. She sped on 
down before the wind away from us, great volumes 
of dense black piling up above her by forced 
draught. The admiral altered course to north- 
'ard, and soon the Hying Delaware, with her two 
faithful destroyers, swung back full speed to join 
her jolted squadron. On arrival at our base. 
Admiral Rodman dispatched a letter to Captain 
Scales of the Delaware: 

"The Division Commander wishes to express his 
high appreciation of the vigilance exercised and 
the prompt and skilled manner in which the 
Delaware was handled on February Sth otf the 
Norwegian coast, owing to which you avoided two 
torpedoes fired at the ship at short range by an 



BACKING BEATTY 107 

enemy submarine. It was an excellent example 
of preparedness and efficiency, and is most heartily 
commended." 

As the details were assembled on our homeward 
way, by signal, it became apparent that a delib- 
erate trap had been laid for the squadron by enemy 
submarines. Clearly the failure of tliis well plan- 
ned attack showed us that the torpedo is not a 
weapon to be greatly feared by vessels of our type 
travelling at high speed. Some indication of 
that confidence and scorn which the British had 
acquired could be noticed in our ship as we left 
the danger of attack astern. 

On to our base we plied our way, circling and 
scouting for two more days. Lack of sleep told on 
all hands, particularly the gun crews whose long 
schedule of watches had permitted but brief 
snatches of sleep. On the night watches those 
tough lads stumbled and mumbled in their weari- 
ness, but stuck, always stuck. The remorseful bits 
of tell-tale wreckage, spars, and strange floating 
objects of which the war-time North Sea was so 
full proved the sole diversion for the gunners. 
They tried their best to make them into sub- 
marines, pleaded to open fire. Always their 
object disappeared astern. As we entered Scapa 
Flow on the morning of February tenth, a collier, 
liovering like an evil spirit at the anchorage of each 
ship, gave us scarce time to catch our breath be- 
fore we plunged into filth and soot. The admiral 



108 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODT^LVN 

shoved off at once for the Quccu EUzahcth to report 
his operation successfully accomplished, and per- 
haps it was the realization of our first actual ser- 
vice that kept those dog-tired sailors shovelling^ 
hauling, plugging. For it was Sunday. 

Twice again we shielded convoys, on trips far 
ditferent than the first. On these, as nearly every 
other time we ventured out, we were beset by 
North Sea gales, and drenched throughout the 
voyages. A few days' diary of one trip will reveal 
the nature of both. 

Friday^ March StJi — Scapa Flow. 
Bleak and blowy morning. After continued 
sanding our decks begin to look as they did before 
we docked. Second Battle Squadron stood in 
after convoy duty. Our turn next — the awful 
grind to Norway and return. Flashing bunting 
on the acting flagship Revenge put us on short no- 
tice for steam, with orders. AVe steal out at mid- 
night. All afternoon securing for sea, checking, 
reporting, dogging down. Battle stations sounded 
before twelve — a drag to reach the deck from a 
sound sleep. 

Safurdaijy March 9tJi, at sea. 
Wind increased to gale. Squadron seems des- 
tined to worst weather of the North Sea. Turned 
us topsy-turvy. Compensation is comparative 
immunity from submarine attack. Convoy not 



BACKING BEATTY 109 

picked up. Wind increased all forenoon; blowing 
90 at noon. Slowed down 16-14-12-10-8-G-4 knots 
to save our smothering destroyers. Green seas 
foaming over us. Florida steering-gear jammed, 
forced delay. Our port signal bridge carried in. 
Increased creaking and groaning of the ship as 
strain begins to tell heavily. 

Sunday^ March lOth, at sea. 
Gale held up to 60 with a bad outlook. Every- 
thing drenched. Scud, driving across a brilliant 
moon, gave fantastic effects on the gleaming 
sea, glorious in her fury. The convoy, bucking 
the northeaster, had to slow way down. Sea- 
worthiness of destroyers exhibited on 180° turn. 
Buried completely. Thought one gone as a sea 
broke over her in a gaping valley, but she was up 
like a cork. Set the table at dinner for the first 
time, ate ravenously. Fired on submarine with 
depth charges at six thirty. 

Monday y March 11th, at sea. 
Up at midnight with a 24-hour span of duty 
ahead. Had slept as dead in spite of pitching. 
Came under the coast of Norway in the morning 
and as the gale abated ran into a dense fog bank. 
Through a mistaken signal we barely avoided 
crashing into a destroyer, then into Florida. Cut 
her towing-spar. Cruised northward on the Nor- 
wegian coast all afternoon, delivered the 40-vesseI 



110 HFAirV. .11.1. 1. UDK. SIMS. .VM> PvOOM.VN 

i'onvi\v io Bori;vii niul starloil liomo with I ho ro- 
tiiru tUvt for Kui^huuL 

Tho sot'i>mi i^ivat duty whic-h foil [o tlio lot (>!* tho 
sqiKulrons i>t' tho (iranJ l''lool was Ihoir part in 
aooomplishinii" that icivatost of all tlofonsivo na\al 
oporations, tho North Soa mino bai'rauo. It is 
woiulorful to think of, whilo in its actual aoooni- 
plislunont is too slupouiious for llio mind to ^rasj). 
It was an .Vniorioan idoa, nrgod, dovolopoil. and 
oxooutod mainly by Amorii-ans. 'l\> tra{> tho oii- 
omy near his don, io horn him in that was its 
purpose. Hut its niau'uitudo! To plant a tlohl t>f 
minos aoross tho North Soa, from Soot land to Nor- 
way, a distauoo of v^U) milos, was tho i>lau. Few 
thouu'ht it possihlo, for tho wator rangos !>00 to 
i)00 foot in dopth. Wo had no minos nor mino- 
layors to spoak of, small oxporionood porsonnol, 
and frightful woathor to oontond with, asido from 
oontaot with tho onomy and tho usual ha/.arils i)f 
miuo-laying. Tho ordor oamo to "go ahoad" anil 
tho vonturo startod. It involvoil tho use of ()(),()00 
tons of shipping for tivo months, tho ostahlishmont 
t>f two groat naval basos, and tho manufaoturo 
of thousands and thousands of minos. Thoro was 
no timo to wasto. Kight morohant ships woro oon- 
vortod, whioh, with tho San Francisco and tho 
Baltimore, mannod by (.'rows whioh had botMi os- 
pooially and inlonsivoly Irainod in mino-laying, 
undor oommand of Captain U. U. .Holknap, wore 
sent to hiy the North Soa mine barrage. 



IJACKJNG JiKA'JTY 111 

T\\<'. mine. i\(;\<i virtually would conlain six chains 
of sufiinaririf* rnirifts, H\.r<:\.<:\\<',<\ from coast, t,o f/)iis\,. 
VVit.l) an <>ul j>ut, of \, <)()() /ninf:s a day, arid five days 
aljowftrj for mine-laying operations, t.fje aggregate 
ea/jaeity of the squadron sliould fje 5,000 mines, U) 
meet, the f>asie out.j>ut,. Aelually, t.lie eapaeit,y 
of tfic squadron was 5,700. Finally t.fje- moment 
to eojrjmener; the task of laying mines arrived. 
C:ould t.liey fJo it? The Clrand Fleet said "We 
fiope, so," altfiough as soon as the barrier should 
bring results, then; would he German opposition. 

Shi(;lriing mine-layers was i\(>\. new work to the 
(xrand Vied. W(; had protected iiritisli squadrons 
at their work. This promis<;d grr;at,er things, for 
we were to use the American squadron as bait 
to draw the High Seas Flwit, as well as for mine- 
laying. One shielding squadron was detailed to 
each mine-laying trip, and early in June our first 
turn fell due. VVrJt,es (Japtain Jielknap, com- 
mander of the mine force: *'()ri the second excur- 
sion, in JufK;, our own battleships, under Jiear 
Admiral Rodman in the New Yorky were the sup- 
port, making a proud sight ff;r us as the great 
squadron filed out and swe[>t off toward an inter- 
cepting station." It was a [>roud sight for us, as 
well, to see tlie Stars and Stripes on that great 
mining srjuadron. With the change of season 
w(; encountered less bad weather on these mining 
trips, but correspondingly more submarines. We 
were towing kite balloons at all times when at sea> 



112 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

however, which always gave us warning in time to 
dodge, and our destroyers basis for attack. Gradu- 
ally the great nets hemmed the *'tin fish" in. Thir- 
teen excursions by the American Mining Squad- 
ron and eleven by the British, laid some 70, 000 
mines, four-fifths of which were ours. The work 
began to bring results, although the losses prob- 
ably never will be fully known. The Germans 
admit the loss of twenty-three submarines in that 
barrage, while more are claimed. The British 
Admiralty believe the submarine campaign was 
broken up by the barrage, which was in fact a 
large contributor to the great end. 

The brilliant operations against Zeebrugge and 
Ostend by the forces in Dover, marked April as a 
month of new hope and expectation. On the 
morning of the 24tli, after standing by at one hour 
notice for steam on the 22d and 23d, not knowing 
what to expect, we suddenly put to sea. It was a 
vast fleet that left the Firth of Forth that day, for 
it comprised our entire forces large and small. 
Mist and heavy weather greeted us outside, as 
we headed straight across the sea. Our orders 
were to intercept any attempt that might be made 
by German cruisers, or the High Seas Fleet, to 
rush to the assistance of Zeebrugge. Eighty-five 
miles north of the attack we took our post, and 
guessed the danger almost to perfection. The 
German cruisers ventured out and our advance 
screen made a twenty-mile contact with their own. 




fo 



At^ H /^/^ 



Rear Admiral Hugh Rodman, U.S.N., K.C.B. 

("ommaiidcr of llic American Hal lie Sciuadron, (Iraiid Fleet 

(Autographed tor the Author sliortly after Surrender of the (Jeriuan Fleet) 




On the Xcir Vorl/s Quarterdet-k 
The Commander-in-Chief twice shows his winniiii; smile 



BACKING BEATTY 113 

Full speed ahead ! The day held promise. A huge 
Zeppelin of their scouting force was sighted from 
Repulse, and then it turned and fled. Too much 
had it seen, for the Germans at once opened out 
for Kiel, with all the speed they had. We followed 
to their mine fields, but the raid had ended, and our 
work was done. We turned our heads for home 
and, stretching in single column, the Grand Fleet 
measured seventy-three miles long! Not until 
the messages, announcing the success of this most 
daring naval feat of all time, began to flash by 
wireless to us as we steamed for home, did any 
but the high commands know what our exploit 
had accomplished. We presumed it had been just 
another false alarm. But when the news of how 
the gallant Dover force had actually ''twisted the 
dragon's tail," in such audacious manner was read 
off in Our mess room, the cheers that went up shook 
our very frames. A doubt continues to exist in some 
quarters as to the value of the operations against 
Zeebrugge. Did the gain justify the sacrifice of 
life.'^ I am quoting Captain Carpenter who com- 
manded the Vindictive at Zeebrugge when I say that 
for three months, dating from that raid in April, 
not a single submarine passed through the channel 
at]Zeebrugge, which is the only practical outlet from 
the greatest German submarine base at Bruges. 
The value of such achievement is inestimable. 

The greatest sport, the finest drill, and yet the 
hardest work we had came while at sea on opera- 



114 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

tions known as "Pee Zeds." At least once each 
month, without warning and suddenly enough to 
put us all on edge, we fought an "action" some- 
where in the North Sea. The forces basing at 
Scapa, and the forces basing at Rosyth would put 
to sea by prearrangement, simultaneously. An 
area, designated as *'P. Z." was selected as a gen- 
eral place of action, and toward this the two sec- 
tions made their way. Usually the battleship force 
came from the north, the battle cruisers and the 
5th Battle Squadron from the south. One force 
were the "Reds," the other the "Blues." Neither 
knew the other's tactics or deployment, when they 
would make contact, or how they would attack. 
Each simply knew the other force was "out." 
Down to the last detail of gunfire and casualty 
drill were those engagements carried out, some- 
times lasting for two days. Smoke screens, air- 
planes, submarines, destroyers and even sub-calibre 
shells were used, and each attack had to be met 
or yielded to. Deployment, natural advantages, 
time of firing and efficiency at the guns were all 
considered in a lengthy analysis, and by the actual 
performances one side or other were declared the 
victors. Sometimes it meant continuous watches, 
day and night, for these were real battle condi- 
tions. Though the expense of these excursions 
actually involved millions of dollars, it proved 
a good Investment for the Allied cause. The 
Grand Fleet wore their stage fright off, and came 



BACKING BEATTY 115 

to know the North Sea *fore and aft,' up and 
down, in every sort of weather. 

Of all the jobs that took us out to sea, we dis- 
liked most that call that lasted to the very end, 
the "false alarm." During the first few months 
we welcomed them, for each call seemed to be the 
real one — thrilled us as we sailed to meet the Hun 
at last! Wild rumours always flew about, from 
"the entire High Seas Fleet is waiting just outside 
in Pentland Firth" to "It's just a little destroyer 
scrap in the bight." Always, after our screen had 
scoured the sea and after we had stood for endless 
hours on watch, that hope-destroying signal would 
flash back from Beatty's flagship — "Return to 
Base!" One of these "false alarm" exploits is 
particularly amusing and brought about a most 
remarkable result. We had just arrived at Scapa 
on the morning of October 13th, as a squadron, 
having left the rest of the Grand Fleet at Rosytli. 
We were to spend the week at target practice in 
the Pentland Firth. At ten o'clock that evening 
rumours of the hair-raising type began to filter 
down, and when at midnight we were put on in- 
stant steaming notice, things looked promising. I 
turned in with one eye open. The next I knew 
our general alarm banged out. On deck in twenty 
seconds, to find it two a. m. and the squadron do- 
ing fourteen knots for the Atlantic! Three Ger- 
man battle cruisers were reported by the subma- 
rine patrols to have passed out on a raiding expe- 



116 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS AND ROD]VL\N 

ditlon to cut off a huge convoy which we knew 
was bound for Archangel. And the gods of 
Chance had phiced our squadron here in the north 
alone to meet them, cut them off and take full 
glory if we succeeded in the operation. At four 
o'clock we put on twenty knots and stood for the 
channel between the Shetlands and the Orkneys, 
directly in the cruisers' supposed path. At day- 
break all guns were loaded, manned for action. 
All hands were on their toes — afraid to hope too 
daringly. Four submarine warnings came in from 
the patrols shortly after daybreak, which made us 
doubly watchful. We reached the Channel at 
ten and cruised and waited hopefully luilil well 
past noon, tense, quiet, straining every sense. 
Then, like a bubble, the whole exploit burst. 
At two o'clock a wireless flashed from the main 
body of the fleet: "Abandon search; return to base.'* 
As the tension snapped and let us down to where 
we felt our weariness, those submarine patrols 
of ours received the choicest lot of appellations I 
have ever heard applied to thing or being! But 
there was yet one more surprise in store. 

We steamed down through the Orkney Islands, 
to enter Pentland Firth from the northeast. Few 
ships ever used that channel, for it led to no objec- 
tive. In column we passed the rugged headlands, 
were about to turn into the firth, when bump, 
bump, bump! The great ship trembled at the 
shock of impact, and the navigator jumped to 



BACKING BEATTY 117 

reach his chart. Twenty-five fathoms clear, with- 
out a rock or bar! The helmsman at once re- 
ported a change in the ship's behaviour, but the 
captain had already felt it as he paced the bridge. 
"Admiral," he said, "there's somethings wrong 
with our starboard propeller. We've hit some- 
thing, out there, though God knows what." Five 
minutes later we veered out of column, slowed 
down and limped to port. Divers were over as 
soon as the anchor, and to their amazement found 
one blade of the starboard screw completely 
sheered, another deeply gouged, and a long, in- 
dented streak carved on our underbody. The 
admiral hauled down his flag, moved, with his 
staff, to the Wyoming. The New York was listed 
"Out of action." 

Three days afterward we were in the dry dock at 
Rosyth, nursing our wound. The board of inves- 
tigation of the British Admiralty had met, gath- 
ered up the evidence, and submitted a report in 
which it was stated that, on consideration of the 
evidence furnished by its trawlers, and that pre- 
sented by the marks and damage on the New York's 
hull; of the opinions rendered by reliable witnesses; 
of the location and time of the incident; of the 
depth of water and absence of any object on the 
surface; the board had concluded that the New 
York had rammed, unawares, an enemy observa- 
tion submarine that had been stationed in the 
Channel north of the routes employed by Grand 



118 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODIVIAN ; 

Fleet ships, but within sight of all their move- 
ments. Further, it was concluded that the force 
of impact must have sunk whatever we collided 
with, and so the New York was officially accredited 
with a German submarine. And Admiral Rodman 
thus reported to the Navy Department at Wash- 
ington. 

That sortie in the North was destined to be the 
squadron's last operation, except the Great One. 
At that time the end of hostilities seemed nowhere 
in sight to us; we looked at least a year ahead. 
Yet hardly more than a month had passed when 
we sailed forth to the tragic end of Germany's sin- 
ister dream of Sea Power. There, before our very 
eyes, after four long years of waiting, the cowardly 
dogs gave up without a show of manliness, without 
an intimation that a drop of red blood flowed in 
their veins ! Who else would have done it? Those 
marvellous ships, those thousands of men! Has 
any nation, however small, ever committed so 
colossal an act of cowardice? No ! 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE AMERICAN GOB AT WAR 

AN INSIGHT INTO THE LIFE, WORK, AND CHARACTER- 
ISTICS OF THE AMERICAN BLUEJACKET 

With everything that in him is — 
By day or night it's just the same — 

He'll stand behind you to the lasty 
If you will only play the game. 

Funny name and funny ideas. 

Has your salty friend the Gob, 
But he II die for you a-smiling 
If you* re ^^ white" and on the job. 

Lieut. Comdr. E. E. Wilson, 

U. S. N. 

WHAT about the gobs? Wliat is a gob? 
They do him wrong who pass the Amer- 
ican bluejacket over as the dereUct 
combed from the beaches, the refugees from society 
who have sought to hide from the civihzation they 
have known. Association with the lads who man 
our ships of war soon dispels this all too often drawn 
conclusion. True, the average gob is a rough cus- 
tomer. He parted with his social position the mo- 
ment he boarded his ship. But aboard ship he has 
reentered society, a new society in a new world. 
I More so than ever before has this fact been em- 

119 



120 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

pliasized In the Great War, when men who had 
joined the Ilnited States Naval Reserve foree to 
serve on tlie sea (loeked lo tlie naval life. From 
the forty-eight states they eame, and from all onr 
eolonies, onl of every walk of life. To their amaze- 
ment they ran against a hard stone wall. The new 
life, the life of the sea, has none of the refinements 
of the land. It is shoekingly point-blank. It per- 
mits no Inxnries, few comforts. There is a strng- 
gle for snrvival that lasts throngh twenty-fonr 
honrs each day. The resultant manhood is man- 
hood without veneer, hard inside and out, fearing 
nothing, hoping everything, and ready to work, 
work, work. 

So aceuslomed does the bluejacket become to his 
strange life, that when ashore he seltlom speaks of 
it. On land we hear of the great moments of the 
sailor's life — the shores of foreign lands, the great- 
ness of his ship, the storm, the girls of his ports, 
his amusements; in short, the crests of his waves. 
Scarcely at all do we know his real life, for he deems 
it not unusual. But the rookie feels it, and knows 
he's up against it. To give a vivid flash of the life 
of a gob at sea in the war, I can do no better than 
to quote the expression of one who has undergone 
tlie strange metamorphosis from land-lubber to 
seaman: "The gob faces no easy undertaking. He 
is not called upon innnediately to sacrifice his life 
and be a hero. lie is called upon instead to man 
a squilgee — of which he never heard before — and 



THE AMERICAN GOB AT WAR 121 

scrub decks; to part with the skin of his feet in the 
lye-water with which the operation is occasionally 
performed. He coals ship until his unaccustomed 
back aches witli the weight of heavy baskets and 
his lungs smart with dust, lie is clumsy. He is 
*bawled out' and his feelings are injured. At night 
he falls out of his hammock, to the inexpressible 
delight of more experienced aviators peering from 
their suspended canvas Zeppelins. Seldom can 
he even laugh with the crowd, for what is there 
funny in the fact that he should spend hours seek- 
ing the individual with the key to the anchor watch, 
or run afoul of tlie officer of the deck and appeal 
to him for assistance?" 

Thus the American bluejacket went to the busi- 
ness of war, in a world of his own with his own 
ways, and very generally by his own choosing. 
What he did there, and the way in which he did it 
will be eulogized through the ages. "It had been 
brought home to every individual," writes Captain 
Belknap of the North Sea mine force, "that his 
work could be done by only one man in the world." 
We may very ai)lly apply this explanation of their 
achievement to the entire forces of the United 
States navy serving in European waters. For 
upon the unquenchable optimism and the real work 
of the American gol), the success of our navy in the 
World War was founded and built. They had the 
stuff, those gobs; they used it. Elsewhere the 
achievements of the battleship men are pointed 



H^ BEATTY, JELLICOE. SIMS, AND ROD^TAN 

out, bill bot'oro rovorting io sidelights on the char- 
actor aiul customs of our gobs it is intoivsting to 
catch a glimpse of him in our submarine patn>l 
fWt. Two letters written by a meml>er of the 
crew of the patrol yacht Corsair, furnish character- 
istic glimpses of what tlie men of these craft en- 
countered: 

Dccomlior, '^l, 1017. 

I have just Invu closer to tho Croat Adventure than [ 
ever care to oome a,i;aiu without seein«x dear o\d New York 
ouee more. We got eaught iu a gale that prevented our re- 
turn to port and had to tly l>efore it for three liays. tinally 
reaching Yigo. Spain, at a time wlien tlie engiuivr said we 
could only remain atloat thiiv hmirs longer. We remained 
there but eight hours, long enough to make temporary u^ 
pairs, and then had to tly again to }u-event our l>eiug interned 
till aprcshu ijucrrt'. 

For three days and nights I neither slept nor ate. All 
of us were in the same tix, lashing ai\d stx'uring. wiu-king 
the pumps and praying that we would come through it all 
;safely. 

I lived ten hours at a pace that counteil for ten years, the 
most tense moment of my life being when, while the seas 
were breaking over us and we were cjawling about tlie decJk 
holding fast to everything that seemed fixed, looking for a 
hatch cover that had become unfastened, we suddenly dis- 
covered that six mines had become unloosed and were lurch- 
ing about. Initting the bulwarks with every roll of the ship. 
These mines are controlled by the paying out of wire, and 
when a certain amount becomes uncoiled they automatically 
explode. As no man knew just how nmch wire had l)ecome 
uumeshed, we all had to work fast heaving them overboard. 
They went "pop, pop, pop," as quickly as champagne corks 



TJIi: AMERICAN GOB AT WAR 123 

at a French Ijall, and }iow we ever escaped blowing off our 
own stem is .still regarded as a marvel by us all. 

Anothor Ifttor relates to encounters with Ger- 
man submariners. Tlie first had been attacking a 
sailing vessel when the patrol hurried to the scene 
of action, ten miles distant. As they approached, 
the submarine submerged, and he writes: 

We were soon amid the rushing of the turbulent water 
that is caused by a huge sub directly on submerging. We 
let go one of our mines from the stern quarter, set to explode 
at eighty feet. We were soon rewarded by seeing the colour 
of the water change in the immediate vicinity of the 
explosion, and while attending to the picking up of the 
fishermen it was noted that among the bubbles then appear- 
ing on the surfar;e, a brown'sh shine predominated. Only 
delaying long enough to make sure we had finished for 
"La Boche," we picked up the crew without further mishap, 
the entire incident occupying but forty minutes from the 
time of hearing the first report until the consummation of 
the rescue. 

The Fates were exceedingly kind to us on this day, for at 
eleven o'clock that night, while the subject of the recent 
attack was still under discussion, the lookout on the bridge 
discovered another monster lying on the surface, for all the 
world like some huge whale taking the air. This submarine 
was about 500 yards dead ahead, and while quickly jamming 
the helm over, the Offic-er of the Dertk ordered the starboard 
battery to take a shot. The shot may not have taken effect, 
as the sub was then in the act of submerging; but as we 
steamed directly over her wake and let go four mines of dif- 
ferent sizes in as many seconds we were soon assured that we 
had done for another. 



124 BEATTY, .IKLLKOi:. SIMS, AND HOmr.VN 

The navy, true enough, is a worlJ with strange 
customs and a language all its own. Its opera- 
tions are entirely on a man plan. There is no 
plaee in the navy for woman, for the navy ami all 
its wisdom belongs to man. From the men, for 
the most part, come just four demands three 
square meals a day and a square deal. These they 
must have, and do have. Foi>d, on hixird shij), 
and more particularly in the war zone, is a 
vital problem. Though i>f necessity it is very 
plain, the bluejacket's food nmst be goi>d. and in 
plenty. 

The galley is on the upper tleck of all the newer 
ships, departing from the ideas of the old days, 
when sanitation formcil no important part in a 
ship's plan. Now we tind the cooking up in the 
air and sunshine, immaculately clean and with the 
latest cooking equipment and facilities (ov the pre- 
paration of food. Ship's cooks and assistants are 
numerous. The cafeteria system of service is 
very generally used now, in spite of protests by the 
men at waiting in line. \'ariation of food of course 
is dependent upon exigencies. AVhile at limes 
navy beans and stew are routine, there is never any 
monotony when the refrigerator ship is able to 
come alongside. AVe have had it ably expressed 
by Disraeli that "public health is the foundation 
on which reposes the happiness of the people and 
the power of the country." To this principle the 
na^y closely adheres, applying it to food. A ship 



TJJE Ayii'MlCAS GOIi A'l WAR 125 

is no \)\ii<-j' f o liavr* sickness. Xot thai the hospital 
facilities an; not. f>f the highest standard, f;ijl there 
is a certain hj.f,k of sympathy for a sick man aboard 
ship, that I have seen in no other community. 
Sinc(t the close association makes contagion vary 
dang(;roiJS, every precaution is taken to avoid 
epidemic. 

The bluejacket's day aboard the Nev) York while 
at war was so often l^roken by trips to sea and oc- 
casions aboard sliip that a condition of monot,ony 
was seldom reached. The general ship's routine, 
showing with what a sailor has to cope, was ar- 
ranged as follows, to be carried out whenever pos- 
sible: 

General daily Routine of Ship vMle in port at Scapa FUjvj 

December, '17 U) 'JH 

(Except Sat., Sun., &: }ioIidays) 

A M 

am Rfiveillc, All hands (Sun. & holidays, C:30). 

0:.'iO Turn to; Out smoking lamp; Execute Morning orders. 

7:.S0 Breakfa.st, Get into Uniform of the day during meal 
hour. 

8:15 Turn to. Gun & deck bright work. Working party 
details. 

8:30 Sick call. 

9:00 Colours. Inspection of decks. 

Quarters for muster and inspection. Physical drill. 

9:30 Ixjading, sightsetting and (if possible) pointing drills. 
10:15 General quarters (Battle-stations drill). 
10:45 Continue division drills. 
11 :30 Iletreat from drill, Mast; sweep down. 
12:00 Dinner. Smoking lamp. 



126 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

P M 

1 :00 Turn to. Out Smoking lamp — Pipe sweepers. 

1 :15 Quarters for muster & inspection. 

1 :30 Afternoon instruction & ship's work. 

4:15 Knock off all work. Sweep down. 

5:30 Supper. 

6:00 Torpedo defense quarters (Mon. Tues. & Thurs.). 

7:30 Hammocks (rig). 

8 :00 Reports of departments to Executive Officer. 

9:00 Tattoo. Pipe down. Set 1st anchor watch. 

9:05 Taps. 

In his strange setting, the sea world, the blue- 
jacket presents a many-sided character study, 
amusing as he is interesting. Unquestionably, de- 
spite their toils and hardships, their inner nature 
reveals them boys, mere boys. Look at their 
"ditty box" — that private treasure box which is 
allowed to be in the possession of each sailor! It 
contains his few necessities, but in the main it is a 
box of precious junk, for all the world like the over- 
grown pocket of the small boy. The treasures 
of his ditty box are the joy of every man. Fully to 
grasp the gob's point of view, and really to under- 
stand him, no better opportunity has ever been 
offered than that which came to the officers who 
censored their mail through the weary months of 
service in the war. There is no limit, in texture or 
pattern, to the tangled webs which the problems 
of their lives and the wanderings of their imagina- 
tions have created. Volumes could be filled by the 
revelations of my own censoring — ^a mere drop in 



THE AMERICAN GOB AT WAR 127 

the bucket. For when fifteen hundred men from 
nearly as many communities, and in every walk of 
life, unfold the problems of their lives in their own 
way, a new stratum is touched upon which many 
an author of fiction could build a career. The 
maze of the web defies description, even of the 
impressions it creates. Hope, despair, love, hate, 
jealousy, fear, humour, pathos, joy, ambition, con- 
tentment, resignation, are all presented in style 
impossible to represent. But to show the extremes 
to which these letters reach, and the sort of en- 
counters that kept the censor's job from being a 
deadly bore, I cannot refrain from reprinting one 
letter, just as it came to the censor, which I think 
puts the letters of "Dere Mable and Dere Bill" on 
challenged ground: 

U. S. S. New York, August 14, 1918. 
Mr. p. S. 

Alton, Illinois. 
Dear Dad will slide over a few lines and trie to let you know 
that I am still floppin an have been able to make a good 
shoin at the table I guess you know where i am at, the address 
is always the same. (Somewhere on the torpedo pond) 
Say Dad its a peach of an address for visitors if you had the 
same kind you never would be troubled with you rich rela- 
tion droppin in on you oh yes we have visitors once in a while 
but we always have to stand at attention so we cant see em 
and they always trot past like a deer in the walk. But you 
know how my sentiments run for them head inflated square 
heads so they don't bother me any. When we were in a cer- 
tain port over here there were four porpoises doin squads 
right in perfect formation I had been in the notion of askin 



us BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND ROD]\L\N 

permission to go swiramin but when I seen those four big 
fish come up out of the harbor side by each I conchidod id., 
take my swim in a bucket this was the fourth of July & I want 
to say that for once I missed the httle old red fire crackers 
but not many miles away they were celebrating the fourth 
in the good old fashioned way. We often go out and dare 
German dogs out of their holes but they crawl every time 
tliey see us coniin. I have almost learned to be a sailor I 
can smoke a cigarette untill you cant see my head for a cloud 
of smoke & am goin to wring the salt out of my socks over 
the stern tonight so by the time the end of the frolic comes 
i'U be a salty dog. It is a hard proposition to write some- 
times for between a general riot of mud slingin and often in 
the midst it is punctured by the mellow notes of a trombone 
or the wild screechin of a cello & the agonized scream of an 
e flat clarinett and then if i should happen to make a mistake 
in all the racket and write something about the ship or like 
that the censor would rub it out and i sit around a great eal 
and when i run i blow like a leaky bellowe in a village black- 
smith shop, a fellers letters look like some one had up set a 
bottle of ink on em but we must grin and bear it just like 
payin the coal bill. Say dad that reminds me to tell you not 
•to worry about the coal for i have a little wad saved up to 
send you for that so you lay in plenty of Spud Murphys for 
the kids and tack some old sheet iron on the seat of their 
trousers and bottom of their shoes and we'll pull out of this 
war a little thinner but wiser tell the kids not to be stuck 
up about wearin old clothes for i go to church in a low neck 
suit of plain blues people over here send their kids to church 
in clothes that people wouldnt go to work in over home and 
they are just as proud as you people in America but it is just 
like it always has been with us a necessity. Say has the 
western raised the wages yet i suppose not for they cant 
afford it fortunately we have laws governin excess profits 
but they are not enforced i have just been readin in the Sat., 





" Above and liciow 

J Jk- (jiaiid i'leet s latr-st air[jlarie rarrif^r ArguK, arifl one of her twenty-four 
knot steam cxuLsing submarines 





King George Iiis{)ect.s the Aineriam Flagsliip 

In the lower picture the author (at extreme left) is fafiu"- the Kin<;aii(l Ad- 
miral Rodman. Admiral Beatty and Admiral Sims bring; up the rear 



THE AMERICAN GOB AT WAR 129 

evenin post about some of the excess profit grabbers and of 
the excellent sand bank legislation to head them off and a 
fine lot of criticism. I believe that the baggin of one profit 
grabber does the general public more good than anything 
else unless it would be the hangin of a few pro germans. I 
learned to obey like a skinned coyote huntin for a hole its 
almost like bein a kid you ask permission to do a thing catch 
h — 1 for it out of one chief if you get by with it its alright if 
you dont its your own hard luck. If we get in a fight we 
fight it out and then make up they always fight when they 
get ready and they are ready any time. I have been pretty 
lucky so far by not carryin any beauty marks on my mush 
We all get up at first call for we have a silver toned officer 
who comes around cryin in a thin voice to get up and take 
the gold fish for a walk etc., I have just been readin a new 

copy of the censor rules and come d near tearin up my 

letter for fear i had wrote somethin we got it on the slackers 
we get all the leadin brands of tobacco and they don't I dont 
see how they can sleep tryin to dodge the draft and payin 
high prices for beer. I bet I have found out why all the boys 
are in a hurry to get across they sell beer to men in uniform 
that is a certain amount. Sea gulls are as tame as sparrows 
over here and a whole lot hungrier. I roost so high at night 
i feel like a little bird or one of those 4 oclock alarm clocks 
with feathers on it. Hey do you ever go down to talk with 
Mrs. Furgeson or does Maw ever let you out of the house. 
Yes we have inspection have had them ever since i left home 
talk about maw raggin a fellow, these old boys in the navy 
they can see a fly speck a hundred yards. Yes they used to 
admire my pretty hair in civilian life but they aint got no 
eye for beauty in the Navy they cut it off until it looks like a 
singed cat in a snow storm we keep everything clean also the 
brass is shined up until it would make a lookin glass turn sick 
with envy and the paint work is scrubbed cleaner than Lil- 
lian Russels' face so you see theres no danger for gettin in- 



130 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

fected from unsanitary conditions when we coal ship we have 
a time everybody plays nigger and one time we was located 
over the chow house the pleasant fumes from a combination of 
eats made me study between to things (wearing my gass 
mask, or singin back home again) I suppose weeds have 
grown to a respectable size in my garden. Tell Ed Elinpetre 
to still play that little dity (dont try to steal the sweetheat 
of a sailor) and if he catches any one sliinin his elbows on 
my girls piano to go down and serenade him with a bunch of 
Irish confetti. There aint any mosquitoes, over here I have 
been wonderin if them Scotchmen wear kilts in the trenches 
if i wore em id want an air tight heater under my dress for 
it sure gets down to zairo over here. I lost a pair of socks 
and a hat but i havent told the admiral about it I dont sup- 
pose hed care any way so i just let it drop. I have got so 
used to sleepin in a hammock that i believe I could sleep in a 
oriole's nest. Say if you can have mama get Ediths address 
in Chicago i wish you would send it to me. I would like 
to hear from her if you get it tell her to write me and send 
me her address at the same time that she writes and you send 
her mine so she wont make any mistake I have got so used 
to seein square head officials of our own country that i be- 
lieve I'U spite em an be a socialist for the rest of my life. 
I have just read of how British Labor have stuck to the prob- 
lem of we must win and if Americas Labor stick like Britains 
you never will have any trouble winnin Im goin to make 
Geraldine a little present so she wont think i have jilted her 
but she has plenty of chance to get revenge so i must be very 
diplomatic and keep a spark or two fanned within her. The 
weather is fine only when it rains and it rains nearly all the 
time. I have been laying off to write to Admiral Sutton but 
havent so far I guess he has learned his lesson since he had 
his memorable houseparty. I have written to Walter & i 
either wrote Elmbro or did and lost his letter for i cant find 
his letter here. Now Dad the first time you get time just 



THE AMERICAN GOB AT WAR 131 

drop me a line explainin your position and rite often and long 
letters for they are few and far apart. Well so long Dad. 

From your son 
R. A. S. 
U. S. S. New York (Band) 
Postmaster New York City. 

We need hardly cast about at all to pick up insti- 
tutions and customs of the gob's very own, which 
reveal his character, distinctly boyish when not 
at his work. One of these is his unique and un- 
failing observance of Christmas day. As early 
as September of each year the men on the battle- 
ships begin to save their loose change and create 
funds for Christmas. Not to be used on them- 
selves, but for gifts and entertainment for some 
group of poor children whom they select, accord- 
ing to their port, transport to the ship for the day, 
and give them a Christmas such as few amongst 
the tiny guests have ever known. Christmas of 
1917 found the New York in the Firth of Forth. 
With more than a hundred children from the Grass- 
market district of Edinburgh, memories of the 
fourth Christmas of the great war will linger for 
many a day to come. The men of the New York 
had selected to be their guests that day a hundred 
of the most needy little waifs of Edinburgh whose 
fathers had lost their lives in the war. Arrange- 
ments were made through a local charity, and 
the day before Christmas saw representatives of 
the ship's company in Edinburgh, delegated to 



132 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODI\L\N 

make final arrangements. The children all re- 
ceived new dresses or new suits on Christmas 
Eve, and were transported to the pier by motor 
bus on the following morning. The little tots 
went wild with delight at the sailors, and most of 
their joy was reciprocated. They could scarcely 
believe they were actually to go on board of "one 
of those big ships." 

The entire crew, headed by the commander, 
welcomed the wide-eyed youngsters on deck and 
at once led them below to where the tables were 
laid for Christmas dinner. Picture the delight of 
these poor war-rationed children at a meal of 
turkey, asparagus, potatoes, pie, cakes, ice cream 
and sweets! After dining to their hearts' content 
they all filed out, loaded with gifts of toys, books, 
apples, nuts, chocolate and a scarf, to where a 
"movie" had been rigged. It was a joyous audi- 
ence that watched the antics of Charlie Chaplin 
on the screen, children and sailors alike. The 
end of the day doubtless left many expecting to 
waken at any moment from some pleasant dream. 
But the most significant feature of this, as of all 
the gob's Christmas days, is the joy they share 
with the children, in anticipation and realization 
of the Christmas spirit. 

The bluejacket ashore has always been a problem 
to the navy, and when ashore on foreign soil, in 
time of war, the problem assumed enormous pro- 
portions. Never had they been seen in such num- 



THE AMERICAN GOB AT WAR 133 

bers, nor after such lengthy periods of confinement 
on their ships. By them, as by our soldiers, the 
American nation would for generations be judged. 
No effort was spared, therefore, to have the blue- 
jacket conduct himself becomingly. The results 
from start to finish were remarkable. Of course 
there were wild, uncontrollable individuals, always 
in proportion to the numbers ashore. The men 
as a rule drank, but not to excess. The general 
impression they have left in the towns of our bases 
abroad is that our jackies, while free spenders and 
often a noisy lot, are decent fellows and easily 
controlled. Perhaps the greatest single factor 
which contributed to this admirable result was a 
remarkably brilliant and forceful appeal contained 
in a letter addressed by Admiral Wilson to the 
American naval forces in France, which he com- 
manded. The excellence of his letter was at once 
recognized by Admiral Sims, who broadcasted 
it to all our naval forces in Europe and kept it 
constantly before them. A man must be low in- 
deed, who, with this appeal fresh in his memory, 
would bring disgrace to himself or to his country : 

We are guests in the house of another people. Our home 
will be judged by our conduct in theirs. We still live under 
the rules, laws, and spirit of the place from which we come. 

Every great nation in history has stood for some one defi- 
nite idea; Greece for beauty, Rome for law, Israel for re- 
ligion. America, in the eyes of the world, stands preem- 
inently for freedom and the ideal of manhood. We must 



134 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

not shake that opinion but do all that we can to strengthen 
it. 

We have come to this side of the world to record, by the 
indelible imprint of arms, our protest against that which is 
brutal, wicked, and unjust, to give expression to that measure 
of indignation stirred in the heart of America by the deeds 
of terror which the enemy has written across the face of 
France. 

Our nation stands for everything that is contrary to the 
spirit of arrogant power and tyranny — Let us prove this 
by our lives here ! 

The only history of America that many of the people of 
Europe will ever read is that which is recorded by our lives. 

Live here the proud manly existence that is justly ex- 
pected. 

Be courteous, temperate, and self-controlled. 

We fight against the Hun's ill-treatment of women; let 
no man be tempted to do, by insinuation, what we charge our 
enemies with doing by force. Let the women of France 
remember the men of America as those who would shield 
them against all harm even that which might spring from 
their defenders. 

You would fight the man who insulted your uniform; do 
not insult it yourself. Let it not be carried into places 
of disrepute or into any discrediting act. We are here for a 
great, high, and solemn purpose, then we will return to our 
homes clean and proud and victorious. 

Mr. Ralph Paine gives out what seems to be a 
record for good conduct of men on liberty when he 
states, as a result of his investigation: 

"These thousands of fine boys of ours who are 
afloat in the war zone are not accustomed to exile, 
and it seems a long, long road to New York or 



THE AMERICAN GOB AT WAR 135 

Chicago or Kansas City. Shore hberty meant 
something when they were among their own kind, 
and there was always the bhthe anticipation of a 
few days' leave and permission to journey home. 
Sending them back from the war-zone is difficult 
to arrange and they must make the best of it. 

"These are some of the reasons why the country 
can feel pride and confidence in the behaviour 
of the navy on foreign service. The record has 
been extraordinarily good. There was a certain 
division of American ships which sent ashore six 
thousand men for a day's liberty. When they re- 
turned aboard there were three arrests for drunk- 
enness and three for overstaying leave." 

What really kept the " nothing- to-do-but-get- 
pickled" idea in the background of the gob's 
thoughts was sports. Of course the restrictions 
which England and Scotland had placed upon the 
liquor traffic for the duration of war helped enor- 
mously, for often a man could not get liquor if he 
wanted it. But to have another object, something 
else to do, was a big factor in the successful conduct 
of the gobs. 

To the men of the Sixth Battle Squadron belongs 
the distinction, I think, of introducing baseball into 
Scotland. Each ship had its team, and most of 
the divisions of each ship had their teams. Inter- 
est in baseball continued at a high pitch from early 
spring to late summer. Wherever the squadron 
based, baseball diamonds were soon laid out, and 



136 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

the men were ashore at every chance to keep them 
populated. The huge naval recreation field at 
Rosyth furnished the best opportunity for the 
game. Exhibition matches were arranged and 
played whenever possible, to the great interest of 
the people who had heard of baseball for years 
but never seen it. To an American who knows 
baseball (and who does not?) nothing could be 
much more amusing than this write-up of an exhi- 
bition game which was played on Decoration Day, 
1918, atlnverleith: 

"The game was watched with keen interest and 
no little appreciation by the spectators; who, 
however, probably derived as much enjoyment 
and amusement from the enthusiasm shown by 
the American onlookers as from the actual play, 
which, broadly speaking, is much after the old 
Scottish game of rounders. There was a continual 
babel of shouting and yelling all through the oper- 
ations, especially when the strikers got in good 
hits, or when the ball was smartly returned to one 
of the base men and there was an out obtained. 
Much of this noise is directed against the pitcher, 
and is known in America as 'rooting' — in this 
country it is called barracking — or, as one of the 
most prominent shouters put it, ' making him chew 
it.' The throwing of the pitcher was for the most 
part very accurate and very fast, and the man 
behind the striker, the catcher, took the ball very 
smartly and cleanly. Runs were hard to get, the 



THE AMERICAN GOB AT WAR 137 

strikers missing oftener than striking, and scoring 
was low. Several of the players were run out, 
thanks to good fielding, accurate throwing in, and 
sure fielding by the base men. There are nine men 
to a side: a striker, a catcher, three base men and 
the other four fieldsmen in the country." 

Another great day for baseball in the navy came 
when the King and Queen witnessed the game 
which was played at Chelsea on the 4th of July, 
1918. The ball game at Chelsea was not merely 
an ordinary sporting fixture; it was much more. 
For the first time a British sovereign expressed, 
by his attendance, a recognition of what had al- 
ways been called an act of rebellion — the Declar- 
ation of Independence. Their Majesties watched 
the game with Admiral Sims, exhibiting much in- 
terest in the sport and the players as well. It was 
a Navy vs. Army contest and drew a record 
crowd. 

Football replaced baseball in the fall, but of 
course could not be played by the numbers who 
enjoyed baseball. There were ships* teams which 
drew a tremendous following and which were 
backed by every single bluejacket. The popular- 
ity of boxing in the fleet is so well established that 
it scarcely needs mention. Elimination contests 
were held regularly at intervals leading up to the 
Grand Fleet Championships in August. This was 
a tremendous affair, attended by thousands, from 
the Commander-in-Chief down. The American en- 



138 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

tries upheld their reputation in all weights where 
they had qualified, taking away more than their 
share of the final honours. Track athletics con- 
tinued throughout the year, culminating in the 
Fleet Championship meet in September. Teams 
were representative of squadrons on that occasion. 
The First Battle Squadron (British) won the Grand 
Fleet Championship, with the Sixth Battle Squad- 
ron (American) second. The point score was very 
close and the issue in doubt to the very end. Ad- 
miral Madden of the First Battle Squadron was 
as pleased as his men over the victory. The usual 
competition and interest in rowing had to be given 
up while our ships were abroad, because our battle 
trim did not permit of carrying raceboats. This 
was considerably disappointing to the gobs who 
had to watch the British at the sport, feeling 
sure that they could have turned out crews to 
beat them. They based their confidence on the 
boasts of some of our "chiefs" who had been on the 
champion Delaware at the Coronation in 1911, 
where she captured seventeen firsts in twenty-one 
starts, from which the British have scarcely yet 
recovered. 

With such expansion as took place in the navy 
during wartime, promotion of a man who showed 
aptitude and ability was very rapid. Practically 
all petty officers were advanced, and a man in the 
ranks who stood out at all above the rest was soon 
made a petty officer. Knowing his possible re- 



TIIE AMERICAN GOB AT WAR 139 

ward, there is enough ambition in the average 
American bluejacket to keep him everlastingly 
playing the game — playing it so hard that an offi- 
cer, if not right up on his toes, will find himself 
lagging. The feeling was prevalent among the 
lucky ones whose service was actually in contact 
with the enemy, that theirs was a very decided 
privilege. 

We find, too, that there are ambitions to which 
the gobs aspire. It is the business of a boatswain's 
mate to "pipe" over the side all officers of the navy 
and army who come aboard, as jjart of the regular 
side-honours rendered, according to the rank of the 
visitor. Therefore, there are aboard the New York 
three chief boatswain's mates, who boast of having 
"piped" a king aVjoard; two who have princes; and 
nearly every rated boatswain's mate lays claim to 
at least one admiral. But to Chief Boatswain's 
Mate Schirm was accorded an honour and distinc- 
tion far above the rest, and one of which his chil- 
dren's children will continue their proud boast. 
Wlien King George of England visited and in- 
spected the American flagship for the first time he 
spent fully an hour about the decks. Before His 
Majesty left he wished, with his characteristic 
democracy, to see the man with the longest service 
aboard. Admiral Rodman at once transmitted 
the King's request to the Commander, who with- 
out hesitation picked Chief Boatswain's Mate 
Schirm from his post at the head of the "boys" 



140 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

who were drawn up for His Majesty's side-hon- 
ours. Schirm has a record of twenty-six years' 
service in the American navy. With him the King 
engaged in conversation before taking his depar- 
ture, and during the time cameras and motion pic- 
ture machines were focussed on the incident in 
such numbers that within a week Schirm's fame 
had spread countrywide. Incidentally "Shorty" 
Schirm is known through the service as one of the 
navy's best seaman, and well upheld his reputation 
on this cruise. 

An officer, even in the highest command, is al- 
ways learning something from his men, who are so 
totally different from each other that the ship 
seems scarcely large enough to hold them. In 
handling the courts martial he runs across the scum 
of the ship, along with others only slightly needing 
discipline. When on deck in the morning watch he 
finds those who are just ahead of all the rest, start- 
ing the day ahead. Below decks, on his night in- 
spections, he finds those who are ever struggling to 
escape official eye, straggling, usually, from their 
hammocks in quest of deviltry. In a hundred 
ways an officer comes to know these men; and, 
knowing them, arrives at last at one conclusion. 
Admiral Sir Lewis Bayle, Commander-in-Chief of 
the British naval forces on the coasts of Ireland, 
addressing the American destroyer fleet in May, 
1918, the anniversary of the arrival of the first 
United States men-of-war at Queenstown, ex- 



THE AMERICAN GOB AT WAR 141 

pressed what I believe to be the feeUng of us all, in 
our small way, when he concluded: 

"To command you is an honour, to work with 
you is a pleasure, to know you is to know the best 
traits of the Anglo-Saxon race." 



CHAPTER IX 

THE TEETH OF BEATTY'S BULLDOGS 

POWER AND PERFECTION OF GUNNERY AT SEA. FIRE 

CONTROL AND ORGANIZATION OF THE GRAND FLEET AT 

THE CONCLUSION OF THE WORLD CRISIS 

A flash, a roar, the turrets whip. 

The mighty guns recoil: 
The quivering ship sags drunkenly. 

The nearby waters boil. 
The guns spring back *'to battery," 

The brown smoke rolls overhead. 
And dancing heat waves shimmer. 

Where the singing shells have sped. 

— E. E. Wilson. 

SUPPOSE it were perfectly certain that the 
Hves of every one of us would, one day or 
other, depend upon our winning or losing 
a game. Would we not study it, practise it, an- 
alyze and construct it with all the energy we 
possessed until we had reached what we believed 
to be unchallenged perfection? Such, exactly^ 
was the case in the Grand Fleet. The game upon 
which depended the life of each officer and man 
in that great fleet, as well as the safety of the na- 
tions which lay behind it, was gunnery. Hundreds 
of millions of dollars had been spent for its develop- 
ment. Hundreds of thousands of men had worked 



THE TEETH OF BEATTY'S BULLDOGS 143 

for its perfection. Further, before that fleet 
had been conceived, the ships of countless other 
fleets had been commissioned, careered, and retired 
for the sake of gunnery. Thousands of men and 
officers had Hved and died for gunnery, focussing 
their hfe's work on one great moment (a moment 
which, deep down, they hoped their God would 
never permit to come) in order that their game, in 
that stupendous trial should succeed; and their 
names, when coupled with their victory, mount to 
heights undreamed of. And so the Grand Fleet 
toiled and strove for gunnery, with right and jus- 
tice for the motive of its deadly game. 

What is a big gun? Simple enough, apparently, 
this massive piece of cold, hard steel. But con- 
sider it in operation ! Think of a man-made mech- 
anism which will hurl three-quarters of a ton of 
loaded steel spinning point first through fifteen 
miles of space each thirty seconds! Which is so 
adjusted that at a range of twelve miles its flying 
missile may be directed accurately into a forty- 
foot target, striking with sufficient force to cut 
through sixteen inches of Krupp steel and then 
explode violently, destroying any near-by life with 
poisonous gases! The great steel shells of these 
huge guns could be driven through fifty inches of 
wrought iron as they leave the muzzle. The 
velocity at this point is such that, were the speed 
maintained for four and a half days it would travel 
a distance equal to the span from earth to moon. 



144 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

The muzzle energy created by the discharge of a 
single 14-inch gun is 70,000 tons, a force greater 
than the combined energy of a million Springfield 
rifles — the arms of a million men. To visualize 
further, sufficient force is created in a single 
ten-gun broadside salvo from a ship, to lift the 
one-time queen of our navy. Old Ironsides, 350 
feet in the air! 

Creation of force on this titanic scale cannot be 
accomplished without a tremendous reaction and 
disturbance at its source. So violent is the shock 
of discharge indeed, that it presents some very 
serious problems in the construction as well as 
the handling of ships built to withstand modern 
gunfire. The impressions of the first target prac- 
tice I experienced may serve to bring out some 
surprising features which had never before oc- 
curred to me. Stationed at a range-finder, on 
the top of a forward turret, there was a beautiful 
opportunity to observe fully the effects of the fir- 
ing. It was salvo firing. By closing a switch 
at a given instant of time when all guns bear on 
the target, an officer in the foretop, manning a di- 
rectorscope, is responsible for the actual discharge 
of the ten roaring monsters. By stop-watch I 
knew exactly when that first salvo was to be fired; 
had heard the shells and powder rumble into the 
guns; had heard the breech click followed by the 
word "ready," and watched the great muzzles 
rise into the air before me as they sought the proper 




An Unprecedented Courtesy 

The Roval Standard of England floating from the mainmast of the Neir 

York on the occasion of King George's visit 




Manning the Rail 

In honour of the King of Enghmd. This i)icture was taken from the fire 
control station on the foremast, looking aft 




^ .2 
^ ft, 






THE TEETH OF BEATTY'S BULLDOGS 145 

elevation. Five seconds remained. There is an 
eternity of deathly silence as you stand there, 
}>raced, with every muscle tense and your ears 
lilocked with wads of cotton. Then suddenly, 
with a shock that staggers even your thought, the 
world seems to hurst. The ship seems to have 
blown up, and you are dazed. But you jump, all 
at once, as the rumbling of the next load rouses 
your senses. The hand has moved five seconds 
on your watch dial. Your hat is gone, trousers 
Ijlown up nearly to the knees, and you feel the 
effect of a bolt of air which was forced into your 
lungs without being inhaled! 

There is just time to grasp the range-finder, 
refocus it, and observe, far off on the hazy horizon, 
great geysers of spray mount hundreds of feet in 
the air, blanketing the target from view. It is 
the splash of your salvo, twelve miles away! Again 
the "ready" comes from down below, the monsters 
lift their mouths in space, and you "stand by," 
this time more reassured. The shock again blots 
out your reason for an instant, but with each suc- 
ceeding blast your confidence increases and you 
begin to observe the strange phenomena resulting 
from these violent explosions. A sheet of blinding 
flame darts out a hundred yards from the ship's 
side, at once replaced by a great white cloud of 
gas which rises as it drifts astern. Overhead there 
rises, billowlike, a dense black cloud of soot loosed 
from the funnels, tubes, and fire boxes with each 



146 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

shock. The cinders tumble back on deck and 
join the bits of unburned powder scattered there. 
Thirty thousand tons of ship beneath you shake 
from stem to stern with such sharp violence that a 
ripple of tiny waves goes off on every side. The 
very walls of the turret on which you stand, thirteen 
inches of solid armour steel, vibrate like pasteboard 
as the great breech jumps back in a mighty recoil 
from the expanding gases. There is a majesty of 
power in that shock of discharge and rush of air 
that can only be felt on the spot. You leave 
the range with a dull headache to be sure, but your 
spirits are high, for you have felt the greatest 
kinetic force of man's own making. 

Perhaps your station is inside one of the turrets, 
actually in touch with one of the monster guns. 
I had certain misgivings when first assigned to 
such a post, for the idea seemed to be to get as 
far away as possible during the firing. Yet being 
in a turret is like being inside of a great safe, and 
the shock of the explosion is removed by walls of 
steel. Once inside, with an iron trap door cutting 
off the only exit, one soon begins to feel at home 
with the gun's crew. It seemed an age, on the first 
occasion, before we had "Coming on the range" 
through the voice tube; then within about thirty 
seconds came * ' Stand by ' ' and ' ' Commence firing ! ' ' 
In a riot of noise and rush of air through the bore of 
the gun to clear it, the shell, three-quarters of a 
ton of it, comes rattling up the chain hoist and on 



THE TEETH OF BEATTY'S BULLDOGS 147 

to the tray. Whirrr, bang! The electric rammer 
shoves It homef* Four ninety-six pound bags of 
powder, urged by much swearing as a fraction of 
a second here and there is lost, follow the shell by 
the same route. Scarcely is the tray removed 
when the great breech plug swings, rotates, snaps, 
and is locked. "Ready!" shouts the gun captain. 
The gun pointer, if ready too, flashes a light to the 
plotting room. Five seconds pass — an eternity of 
breathless silence as you crouch there, every muscle 
set. The blow comes like a mighty sledge. You 
land about where you were, just as the great breech 
jumps back in a mighty recoil from the expanding 
gases. It seems about to crush you when a counter 
recoil, beautifully timed, snaps the huge mass back 
"to battery," and with a rush of air the breech 
plug swings to start another load. There is no 
time to relax. The entire rush of loading lasts 
but eighteen seconds. Then, like well-trained dogs, 
each member of the crew again drops flat in 
his tracks to await the second blast. Ten times 
we fired on this occasion, and by the tenth shot 
all were quite accustomed to the shock and ready to 
continue. One time a trayman was a bit too slow 
in jumping clear. A moment later he was carried 
out unconscious, replaced almost before he hit the 
deck. The incident was scarcely noticed. A load- 
ing crew works like a machine unless badly rattled, 
then nothing but rough handling brings them 
around. It takes a lot to rattle a good gun 



148 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

crew, but sometimes a lot happens when men are 
trying to control a blast that would destroy a city 
block. 

Another day I had my firing station in the 
"maintop." The "tops" are those circular eyr- 
ies projected on top of the basket masts, roofed and 
walled with steel, from which, in the last analysis, 
the fire of the monster guns is actually controlled. 
At long ranges, the tops are the only eyes of the 
ship. From them the guns are directed and fired, 
salvos spotted, and ranges corrected. They are 
considered the most important and by many the 
most desirable of all battle stations. In the bright 
sunshine of a crisp October afternoon, with only a 
ripple stirring the ocean floor, no reviewing point 
could have been more perfect than mine, a hundred 
and sixty-five feet above the water and directly 
over the guns. It was salvo firing, full calibre. 
There is a tremendous exultation in being up there, 
in actual view of the entire broadside, knowing the 
power of the guns, and waiting for the moment 
which has been your object for weeks. "You 
hear the order *Fire!'" writes a British midship- 
man from Jutland, "the foretop gets up and hits 
you in the face, and an enormous yellow cloud of 
cordite smoke — ^the charge weighs 2,000 pounds — 
rises up and blows away just as the gentleman 
with the stop-watch says ' Time ! ' ; and then you see 
the splashes go up, perhaps between you and the 
enemy, behind the enemy perhaps, or, if you are 



THE TEETH OF BEATTY'S BULLDOGS 149 

lucj^y, a great flash breaks out on the enemy; and 
when the smoke has rolled away you have just time 
to see that she is well and truly blazing before the 
next salvo goes off." 

The terrific shock whips the great basket masts 
like reeds. The full force of the ten guns can be 
felt up there with an expansion of gases and result- 
ant air pressure quite inconceivable until experi- 
enced. That the human mind has compounded a 
substance with such expansive qualities is a wonder 
of the age. The succession of violent shocks some- 
times breaks up the reason of the men, and it is 
only because they have been acting, living, breath- 
ing gunnery for weeks that they are able to con- 
tinue, like machines. The firing over, all the crew 
to the lowest fireroom feel as though some great 
contest has been won. They live high spiritedly 
for days. Such is the effect of the power of these 
weapons with which they play the game. Yet, 
without organization, coordination, and perfect 
unity of command the great guns would be useless. 
Commander Yates Sterling makes an analogy 
between naval organization and nature's organiza- 
tion quite uniquely. " Surviving types," he writes, 
*'as a rule contain a happy balance of those offen- 
sive attributes, activity, endurance, and intelli- 
gence, translated into claws and teeth, limb and 
muscles and an hereditary instinct to combine in 
packs for the attack upon a more powerful foe. 
Nature is a faultless organizer, yet even she arrives 



150 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND ROn:MAN 

at perfection only throngli a selection of organs 
essential to an environment. " 

Realizing the importance of organization in 
gnnfire, the commanders in the Grand Fleet strove 
for its perfection. The resnlt may be divided into 
three main classes: the organization williin the 
ship, the organization within the squadron, and 
the organization of the fleet. 

Within each ship the most modern and complete 
system of fire control had been installed, fonnded 
in our own ships upon the initiative and genius of 
Admiral Sims. The ship to-day replaces the gun 
as a fighting unit, for guns are no longer discharged 
singly, but simultaneously on a broadside. To 
do this a triple communication system is estab- 
lished throughout the ship, visual, 'phone, and 
voice-tube, each leading over a difi'erent course 
wherever possible, thus to avoid destruction by a 
single shell. Hitting, or straddling, rests not only 
with the gun, but is dependent upon the coopera- 
tion of a network of departments, each an indispen- 
sable unit to the whole. From the conning tower, 
walled in by thirteen inches of armour plate, the 
captain runs his ship, placing her according to his 
squadron deployment. The navigator and gun- 
nery officer are with him there, on open 'phones to 
all departments. Target, method of fire, and time 
of opening fire issue from these officers, and their 
orders are taken up at once by the range-finders 
on the turret tops. They lose no time in sending 



TIIE TEETH OF BEATTY'S BULLDOGS 151 

ranges and bearings of the designated target to 
tlie heart of the firing system, four decks below 
the water line, peopled with silent brains, and com- 
j>l(;x instruments — the p^lotti ng room. TPience 
after computation with specid, courses, wind, 
change of range and target bearing, issues a range 
and a zero time to the turrets and fighting tops. 
Fire control centre in the conning tower gives the 
order *'Train!" and "Load!" to the turret booths 
and lower handling rooms. Gun crews load, point 
and lay their guns, signalling back to plotting room 
by flashing lights and voice tubes. When Control 
gives "Stand by!" Gvary pointer whose pair of 
guns is on the proper reading of his dials closes a 
switch. TIhj firing circuit is complete with one ex- 
ception. Up in the foretop, a directorscope or small 
telescope, manned by an officer and set exactly 
witfi all the guns, has a switch open. That switch 
is on the firing circuit. With his eye on the target 
in his field, the officer waits until his object meets 
liis crosswires. Holding it there, he closes the 
switch, and on the next roll (Plot has measured 
the range angle to allow for this) two points make 
contact as the director swings exactly "on." A 
spark of fire burns into a small percussion cap in 
the breech of every gun, shoots a stream of fire to 
the powder bags within, and eight tons of roaring 
steel launch skyward. At that instant, in each 
of the tops, a "spotter" presses his watch. lie 
knows the time of flight for his given range and 



152 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

coolly awaits the pleasure of the drifting smoke. 
Five seconds before his time he drops to his glasses. 
White geysers mount on the horizon. He studies 
them an instant, murmurs something to Control. 
It may be "Down one thousand!"; "Up five 
hundred!"; or better still "No change, straddle!" 
Pencils fly and instruments are buzzing down in 
plotting room. Ten seconds later now, and cor- 
rected ranges pass over three routes to all guns. 
The second load has been completed. The second 
"ready lights" appear in plotting room. Nothing 
but enemy steel can halt the vise-like death grip 
closing on the target now, relentlessly, remorse- 
lessly. 

Within the squadron things are far more com- 
prehensibile, though not so simple in their execu- 
tion. The fire of four or six great ships must be 
directed and employed to best advantage. An 
admiral commands each squadron from his flag- 
ship's bridge. His are the signal forces, his the 
communications. Having placed his squadron in 
deployment as directed by the Commander-in- 
Chief, who is drawing up his fleet for action, the 
admiral turns attention to his ships' positions rela- 
tive to cooperative firing. In 1918 the Grand 
Fleet so outnumbered the High Seas Fleet in ships, 
that the Grand Fleet practised what is known as 
concentration fire. Ships were divided into firing 
groups of pairs, each two concentrating an alter- 
nated fire upon one designated enemy ship. By a 



THE TEETH OF BEATTY'S BULLDOGS 153 

system of visible and wireless telephonic communi- 
cation between the tops of the ships which were 
concentrating, the result of each salvo would be im- 
mediately transmitted to the other. Thus could 
the correct straddling range be reached in half the 
time required by a single ship, with half the expen- 
diture of ammunition. If each ship fired only once 
a minute, the enemy would be receiving alternating 
salvos every thirty seconds. His chances of reply- 
ing to such a rain of steel were small. So the 
admiral must preserve, besides deployment of his 
squadron, deployment within his squadron, for his 
firing unit actually became a pair of ships and not 
a single one. His problems rested not alone with 
timing and communication, but with the ability 
of his ship captains to execute their orders and 
maintain positions in formation. 

Let us look at the organization of the Grand 
Fleet. Summing up Rear Admiral Bradley A. 
Fisk's discussion we reach some interesting conclu- 
sions. Compared with the force commanded by 
Admiral Jellicoe in the North Sea, the forces com- 
manded by Alexander, or Caesar, or Napoleon, or 
Kelson were puny, and even those of Togo were 
unimportant. Compared with this force, the 
aggregate land forces of both the Allies and the 
Teutons were inconsiderable. The total offensive 
power of one salvo from one of Jellicoe's battle- 
ships was greater than that of millions of mus- 
kets. The aggregate artillery power of the 



l.'>4 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND ROD^L\N 

twenty-four modern battleships that Admiral 
JeUicoe had in his main cohnun at the battle of 
Juthuid was greater than that of 10.000,000 in- 
fantry soldiers — and he moved these battleships 
at a speed of nearly twenty miles an hour! Such 
was the charge of Jellicoe; and the fleet opposed 
to him, upon which Germany had expended a 
billion and a half dollars was, next to his own, the 
most powerful in the world. His superiority of 
powder was not great. He must depend, for the 
safety of Britain, upon the organization behind his 
gims. But we must not deviate to Jutland. 
The greatness of Jellicoe's forces in 1916 fades by 
comparison with the stupendous armada of Beatty's 
command in 1918. Roughly, it was half again as 
great in power and ships as Jellicoe's command at 
Jutland. Not only does that exhibit of man's 
force stand out as the greatest w hich has ever been 
assembled, but bids fair to stand as such through 
all time. For, while sea power will always remain 
a factor of vast importance in international rela- 
tions, the tendency of nations now is toward a 
saner devotion of the wisdom of mankind than 
to destruction. 

Some idea of the hugeness and scope of the or- 
ganization of the Grand Fleet in 1918, while the 
American Battle Squadron formed a part of it, 
may be had from the table given below, which, I 
believe, is the first public presentation of Beatty's 
divisions of ships, wdtli their respective armaments: 



THE TEETH OF BEATTY'S BULLDOGS 155 

flj:et flaghuip — "queen Elizabeth" 
Commander-in-Chief — Admiral Beatty. Attached dispatch veaae\—Oak 

FIB8T BATTLE SQUADRON 

Admiral Madden 



Firrt Divinon 
Revenge 
Resolulion 

JiffU'il Soverei'jn 
lUiyitl Oak 
liamilliet (gpan 



I Ki({ht-15" gun.' 

(81>e':d 21 ktji. 
•e) J 



7. 
8. 
0. 
10. 



Hecorul Divinon 
Kmperor of India 
Jienhoui 
M arlborouDk 
Iron Duke 
Camula fBpare) 



Attached cruincr — liUmde, 27 kls 



/ T(;n-13.5" guna 
yr welve-0" gunji 
I fti>eed 22 kt3. 



SECOND BATTLE 8QOADEON 
Vice Admiral De Ilobeck 





Third Divinon 






Fourth Divinon 




11. 


Orion \ 
Monarch ' 


Ten-13.C" guns 


13. 


King George V 




12. 


Bixt<re;n-4" guns 


Ifl. 


Ajaz 


Ten-1.?.5" guns 


18. 


(.'onipuror { 
ThumUrer J 


speed 22 kta. 


17. 


Centurion 


Sixteen-4" guns 


14. 




18. 


Erin 


speed 22 kU. 








19. 


Agincourt Cspare) 





Attached cruiser — Btllona, 11 kt5. 



Fijlh Divirion 
(, oloiiut 
Superb, 
flellerophon 
Temeraire 



FOUETH BATTLE SQUADRON 
Admiral Sturdee 



") Ten-12" g 
{ Sixteen-4' 
r speed 21 k 



Sixth Divinon 
guns 24. llercule) 

guns 1 26 CoUingwood 
kU 20. Neptune 

27. .S7. yincent 
Attached cruisers — lioadicea, 27 kts. 

King Orry (sftecial) 



}. 



Ten-12" guns 
Sixteen-4" guns 
speed 21 kta. 



FIFTH BATTLE BQUADRON 
Vice Admiral Evan-Thomas 



28. Barham 

29. Malaya 

30. Valiant 
81. Wampite 

I (Flag) Queen Elizabeth 

Attached cruiser 



Eight-15' guns 
Twelve-6" guns 
speed 21 kts. 



SIXTH BATTLE SQUADRON 
Rear Admiral Rodman 



82. 
88. 
84. 
85. 
C6. 



New York 

Texat 

Wyoming 

Florida 

Delaware 




Eightcen-5" guns 



Auns 
ttached cruiser — Blanche 



speed 21 kts. 



156 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND ROD!^L\N 

THIRD BATTLE SQUADRON 
Older ships used for bombarding not based with Grand Fleet. 





First Divinon 






Second Division 


1. 


Dreadnought y 


1 Ten-12" guns 


1. 


Zealandia 






24-1 pdrs. 


2. 


Africa 


2. 


Commonwealth 


- Four-H" guns 


3. 


Eibernia 


S. 


Dominion 


I " -9.2" guus 


4. 


Britannia 


4. 


Hinduitan 


\ ii-n pdrs. 
speed 18 kts. 







}Four 12" 
" -9.2" 
24-12 pdi 
speed 18 , 



guns 
guns 
rs. 
kts. 



First Division 

1. Lion 

2. Princess Royal 
S. Tiyer , 

4. Repulse 

5. Renown 



BATTLE CRUISERS 
V^ice Admiral Packiubam 



Eight-13.5" guns 
Sixteen-4" guns 




CRUISERS 
Vice Admiral Napier 



First Cruiser Squadron 
Courageous y Four-15" (A) guns 

Glorious f speed 36 kts. 

Furious* 



'Airplane Carrier. 



Second Cruiser Squadron 

1. Minotaur 

2. Shannon 

3. Cochraiie 
i. Achilles 



LIGHT CRUISERS 

Light Cruisers are armed with both 10-6" and 4" guns and torpedo tubes. Speeds 30 kts., 

or above 



First Light Cruiser Squadron 

1. Caledon (Flag) 

2. Roualist 

3. Galatea 

4. Phaeton 

5. Inconstant 

Third Light Cruiser Squadron 

1. Chatham (Flag) 

2. Birkenhead 

3. Chester 

4. Yarmouth 

5. Weymouth (Mediterranean) 



Second Light Cruiser Squadron 

1. Birmingham (Flag) 

2. Southampton 

3. Dublin 

4. Sydney 

5. Melbourne 

Fourth Light Cruiser Squadron 

1. Calliope (Flag) 

2. Cordelia 
8. Cambrian 
4, Constance 

6. Comus 
6. Caroline 





Fifth Light Cruiser Squadron 




Sixth Light Cruiser Squadron 


1. 


Curacao 


1. 


Cardiff (Flag) 


2. 


CurleiD 


2. 


CassaTuira 


3. 


Concord 


S. 


Ceres 


4. 


Cleopatra 


4. 


Calypso 


5. 


Coventry 


5. 


Caradoc 


6. 


Centaur 






7, 


Canterbury 






8. 


Conquest 







THE TEETH OF BEATTY'S BULLDOGS 157 

LIGHT CRUISERS — {Continued) 

Seventh Light Cruiser Squadron Tenth Light Cruiser Squadron 

1. Carj/sport 1. Alsatian \ Base at Liverpool 

2. Aurora 2. Teutonic I Operate outside 

5. Penelope 8 Owieto > of Ireland. 

4. Undaunted 4. Amsterdam I Armed with 6" & 

6. Dxike of Cornwall ) 9.4" guns. 

Seaplane Carriers Mine Layers 

1. Campania '\ 1. Paris 

2. Pegasus I 2. Princess Margaret 

3. Nariana I j ^ 8. Hahine 

4. \ endox f "t"-"^" *' "■'^* 4. Angora 

6. Argus I 6. London 
6. Canning, Balloon Sliip / 

Submarine Parent Ships Repair Ships 

1. .'io<i>e 1. Constance 

2. Fearless 2. Cyclops 

3. Champion 

Destroyer Flotilla 

1. Castor 

2. Commodore 

Destroyer Repair Ships Station Ship* 

1. Greenwich 1. Royal Arthur 

t. Blake 2. Impfrieuse 

8. H'oo/u'i'cA 3. Victorious 

4. Sandust 4. Bonaventura 

Note: No attempt has been made to classify the myriad of destroyers and the submarine, 
which make up the Grand Fleet Escort. 

The smoothness with which this organization 
worked, the exquisite manner in which the squad- 
rons mana^uvred and deployed, the precision of 
their drills, their endurance and the efficiency of 
the crews, speak decidedly to the effect that the 
operation of and coordination in the fleet kept 
pace with its expansion to meet the demands of the 
war. The Grand Fleet had two great tasks to 
perform, and it performed them not alone with 
credit and honour, but with profit to all the world. 
It was the Grand Fleet's task, first, to sweep the 
German Flag from the seven seas; and, second, to 
blockade the German Empire. How well the job 



158 BEATTY, JELLTCOE, SIMS, AND RODTNtAN 

was done needs neitlior question nor eoniment. 
The relentless pressure of superior sea power, 
without e\'en a great and decisive naval battle, 
gave to the Allies the freedom of the seas, per- 
mitted the organization and transportation of their 
armies, and resulted at last in the accomplishment 
of that end which, l)y our histories, was shown to be 
inevitable. Organization and cooperation made 
the Grand Fleet a great fighting force but the 
squadrons of that fleet were composed of imit ships, 
in which man had placed, as lluskin put it long 
ago, "As nuicli of his human patience, common 
sense, forethought, experimental philosophy, self- 
control, habits of order and obedience, thorough- 
wrought handiwork, defiance of brute elements, 
careless coin*age, careful patriotism, and calm ac- 
ceptance of the judgment of God as could well be 
put into a space five hundred feet long by eighty 
broad." 



CHAPTER X 

"COMRADES OF THE MIST" 

THE BRITISH BATTLE CRUISERS. THE SPIRIT OF II. M. S. 
*' RENOWN." ARMISTICE NIGHT IN THE GRAND FLEET. 

Down through the years that are to come 

When we've gone our several ways. 
To the farthest corners of the earth. 

That hash in the suris warm rays. 
We'll dream of the days when we were part 

Of Britain s strong mailed fist — 
When we kept the sea and nations free. 

With our Comrades of the Mist. 

THE great steel spans of the Forth Bridge 
broke dimly through the cold December 
mist which lingered over the firth. For 
several minutes nothing else was visible, for the pall 
of gray had settled low enough to blot from the 
rising sun the power of Britain's Southern Fleet. 
Gradually the belching chimneys at the Rosyth 
dockyard pierced the veil, as our ships proceeded 
slowly up the firth, and then gray shapes began to 
loom before us. A visitor to the Grand Fleet is 
struck by many wonders. He may be most deeply 
impressed by the intricate mechanism of a modern 
submarine, or it may be by the dashing speed of a 
new destroyer. Perhaps the airplane carriers and 

159 



160 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SBIS, AND RODM\N 

kite balloons attract liim, or he may contend the 
nicety of the torpedo is unexcelled. Some feel 
the power of the dreadnaiight's battery is the main 
feature, or possibly the wireless control. Others 
think that without her great screen of light cruisers, 
the fingers of attack, the Grand Fleet would be 
crippled. But, after weighing all departments of 
the Grand Fleet's power and giving each its 
due, to me one group appeals above the rest, 
those ships whose sleek hulls loomed through the 
misty Firth of Forth on that December morning 
when, for the first time, the American Battle 
Squadron gazed astoundedly at the British battle 
cruisers. 

For months we lay at moor beside these mon- 
archs of the fleet below the great Forth Bridge and 
always on my mind will be their graceful power as 
they rode there to the tide, ready for the frequent 
dashes to sea. They were the Liou^ famous as 
Beatty's flagship in the Jutland fight, shell- 
scarred and dull from service; the three-stacked 
l^iger (which the Germans claim to have sunk long 
since), showing her beautifully proportioned lines; 
the Princess Royal, sister of the ill-fated Queen 
Mary which was sunk at Jutland; and the two 
canoe-like marvels of the naval world, the Glorious 
and Courageous, stretching their great knife lengths 
in column, every line bespeaking their tremendous 
speed. But just across the channel from the 
New York lay the greatest of them all, those two 




Admiral Beatty of the P'lagship Lion 
As he app(;an'd \\ lien in rommand of the battle cruisers at Jutland. 1916 



"COMRADES OF THE MIST" 161 

war-products of naval genius called the "hush" 
ships, Repulse and Renown. Between these mighty 
sisters there is little choice, albeit certain ships 
within a fleet are wont to pal together. For a 
ship is not known by her power or size or speed or 
compliment within a fleet, nor even by her in- 
dividual ofiicers or men. She is characterized as 
"happy" or "unhappy," "good" or "bad," ac- 
cording to the spirit which prevails within her 
hull; upon the congeniality of her officers, and the 
manner in which they get response from their 
crew. These factors determine the ship's success. 
And so, because they proved exceptionally "happy" 
the New York's closest comrades abroad were the 
Repulse and the Renown. 

Picture the majesty of those two monsters ly- 
ing there beside us, the very flower of Britain's 
power! Built in secret during the war, they were 
the largest and newest warships of the British navy. 
For seven hundred and thirty-seven feet each 
keenly drawn-out hull extended in the firth, dis- 
placing thirty-five thousand tons. Their tested 
speed is above thirty knots an hour, backed by a 
main armament of six fifteen-inch guns. They 
are called "Fifteen (A)" guns, which means they 
are nearer seventeen than fifteen inches across the 
bore. Mounted in triple groups along the centre 
line are fifteen four-inch guns. High in the super- 
structure, with an arc of train on either side, this 
bristling armament bodes ill for an enemy sub- 



162 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

marine or destroyer. Four rapid-firing anti-air- 
craft guns and eight submerged torpedo tubes com- 
plete the battery. Poised on a turret platform, 
fore and aft, two scouting airplanes rest, ready to 
jump to their errands on instant notice. Search- 
lights dot the heavy superstructure, occupying al- 
most every bridgewing, capable of blotting out 
the chance of enemy escape. For the striking 
feature of these monsters is that they are built to 
hunt and not to be hunted. Two of the three huge 
gun-turrets are mounted forward on the long grace- 
ful sheer of the three-hundred-foot forecastle deck 
which gives a wonderful ease of entrance in a sea, 
and seems to combine their power with their grace. 
*' There, " says the critic, " you have the last word in 
the construction of fighting ships. They may be 
offensive or defensive at will." 

In the wardrooms of these ships the New York's 
oflicers found their closest comrades. They seemed 
to be selected for their "pep," these battle-cruiser 
people, that they might better cope with their 
arduous duties. Whenever we would go aboard 
we found a welcome and a "cheero" that kept us 
on our toes to reciprocate. True, indeed are the 
lines which run: 



They say it when they take a drink — 

Cheer-0! 
They say it in their sleep, I think — 

Cheer-O! 



"COMRADES OF THE MIST" 163 

They'll say it when they meet the Hun, 
They'll fire it with the opening gun. 
They'll sing it when the battle's won — 
Cheer-0! 

We took the battle-cruiser officers aboard and 
showed them all we had. They did the same, ex- 
actly. One day I went with the Renown to her 
battle manoeuvres in the outer firth. For the 
first time I saw the graceful airplanes hop daintily 
from a turret- top. Then a torpedo attack was 
executed by British submarines at 2,500 yards, 
which we successfully though narrowly avoided by 
observation from the kite balloon. The ease with 
which that huge ship could be swung, in response to 
the directions to the bridge from the balloon, elim- 
inates all doubt that clumsiness may result from 
such great size. Subcalibre firing at short range 
concluded the day's drills, during which exercise 
I visited every fire-control department from the 
lower shell rooms of the turrets and the plotting 
room, to the conning tower and the spotting tops. 
Their huge hydraulic system and tremendous guns 
made our electrically controlled fourteen-inch bat- 
tery seem like a plaything. For, having proven that 
hydraulic mechanism can be relied upon in action, 
the British have not touched the field of electricity 
as have Americans. That feature of our ships 
proved most absorbing to our British visitors. 

Adjacent to the wardroom in the Renown was 
placed a lounging saloon. Huge easy chairs, deep 



164 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

couches, and an open coal grate, always burning, 
made this a favourite spot for making friends and 
swapping tales. Even a billiard table had been 
added to the fixtures of this cabin, which, with its 
spacious headroom and huge ports seemed more 
like part of an ocean liner than a battle cruiser. 
Here, to the ever-ready clink of glasses, I heard 
the commander tell the story of his rescue in the 
Jutland fight, when he had been picked up, one of 
three survivors from the fifteen hundred who had 
manned the ill-fated Invincible when she blew up. 
Here a major of marines related the details of the 
landing on Zeebrugge mole, for, with two gun 
crews wiped out beneath him on the Vindictive, 
he had jumped on to the mole with a group of men 
in time to silence a machine gun. The story of the 
decoy of a German submarine by a British sub- 
marine while a second British sub stole up and sank 
the German from astern was vividly related, as 
well as the story of the patrol diver who had tapped 
a message in Morse code on a resting sub's hull at 
the bottom, bringing her quickly to the top, sur- 
rendering. These and a score of such tales always 
could easily be drawn out, unless they happened to 
reflect credit on the speaker. Then one met with 
reticence for, 

Ask a British naval ofiBcer to talk about himself. 
And you'll get a change of subject — that is all. 
Ask a British naval officer to talk about his mate 
And he'll back you up against the nearest wall. 



"COMRADES OF THE MIST" 165 

One evening a lieutenant of Admiral Sims's 
staff, a great friend of mine, came to us on duty 
from London. Since he had not really seen a Grand 
Fleet ship, I took him to dine in the Renown. He 
could not have picked a better occasion, for this 
was the night of the squadron regatta and the boats 
of the Renown had crossed the line in the van. 
Somehow the story of that evening's adventure 
reached a London "weekly," and was thus amus- 
ingly described to evade the rules of censorship. 
The parentheses are mine : 

A tale of the sea is not as a rule supposed to display a taste 
exactly for faultless fact, but the one I propose to tell you 
is really true, and will show you how, and why, it is that 
Britannia still rules the waves — and incidentally what price- 
less lads the young sea-lions of the senior service are when 
they are properly in their stride. It was aboard H. M. S. 
Dernier Cri (the Renown), sister ship of H. M. S. Last Word 
(the Repulse), two bateaux of the Grand Fleet of which I 
retain the happiest memories, that this thrilling episode 
occurred. Figurez-vous the night of the day of the victory 
in an aquatic contest in the small boats of H. M. S. Dernier 
Cri (Renown) and the hitherto head of the northern base, 
the star crew of H. M. S. Ermy One (the Lion): the celebration 
is in full blast after the manner, familiar to any one who has 
ever assisted at what is called a "rag" (roughhouse) , It is 
done in both services, also at school dinners, and people have 
been known to be sent home good imitations of Highlandmen. 
However! In one of the spacious cabins allotted to the use 
of the wardroom, the First Luff (Lieutenant Glover, 1st Lieu- 
tenant), another equally important naval officer and two 
distinguished American visitors (Lieutenant McLintock and 



166 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN, 

I), were playing at what I will now call auction — only it 
didn't happen to be. 

About the hour when spectres walk and all good people 
should be abed, up comes the smallest Snotty (midshipman) 
of H. M. S. Dernier Cri with the request that the First Luff 
and his guests should do the gunroom mess (Junior Officers' 
mess) the honour of coming down to quaff a glass to cele- 
brate the victory in the aforementioned aquatic contest. 
The First Luff said he would be pleased, and would be with 
them in half an hour to the tick. 

The thirty minutes having expired, the distinguished 
guests set out on their journey to the abode of those future 
Jellicoes and Beattys; but they had not gone far when from 
behind every stanchion, cowl, or other place of concealment 
emerged a ragged mob of semi-nude Snotties, all of whom I 
must say had their trousers on, but not much else — and, 
alas that I should have to relate it, there ensued such a tussle 
as has never been seen or heard of since those bad lads tried 
to drag a certain hairy old prophet out of his cave. The 
First Luff put up as good a fight as he could, but his American 
guests thought that it was a modern instance of Mutiny at 
the Nore, and were vastly alarmed till the humour of it was 
explained. In these celebration "rags," seniority is ignored 
and the midshipman wrecks revenge upon the iron hand that 
ordinarily rules him! This is not all. Next day an account 
of the engagement was sent In in the most approved official 
language, and at the end of it was the following: "Acci- 
dentally injured, one Naval Officer; severe wounds to leg 
and nose." If you want to know why it is Germany is never 
going to rule the seas, just think this little yarn over. 

The greatest time of all took place on Armistice 
Night. Never has the Grand Fleet so demon- 
strated; never will it do so again. At exactly noon 



"COMRADES OF THE MIST" 167 

of November twelfth we had the message which 
confirmed our fears. The news was met not with 
the joy that should have been awaiting, but with a 
sullen realization that the end had come without 
the blow of our ambition. Gradually, however, 
as the news flashed round the world, its tremend- 
ous meaning was absorbed. When evening came 
the pent-up feelings of the fleet broke loose with one 
accord — this was the end at last — Armistice Night ! 
A general signal was broadcasted from Comman- 
der-in-Chief, Grand Fleet: 

The Armistice commenced at 11:00 to-day, Monday, and 
the customary method in His Majesty's service of celebrating 
an occasion is to be carried out by ships' companies spUcing 
the main brace at 9 p. m. to-day. Hands are to make and 
mend clothes. 

Which means, translated, that at that hour 
drinks are to be on the King — go to it ! Not since 
the Coronation had that signal been made. It 
was the lash to which the fleet sprang into action. 
For miles along the firth the whistles of ships of 
every sort commenced to spit and scream in a hun- 
dred keys. They spelled the words "Peace" and 
"Victory" and a half score others in international 
code. Then some one started a ship's bell, and 
within five minutes every bell in the fleet clanged 
out. Sirens followed these, in a bellowing, howling 
medley of tones that must have carried miles to 
sea. The men of the fleet swarmed to the decks. 



168 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

brought pots and pans and tins, formed mighty 
snakes of human forms, and shouting and cheering 
to the blare of trumpets and bugles and trombones, 
they galloped and frolicked from stern to stern. 
An incessant din was raised and sustained. The 
riotous fleet knew no bounds. Darkness fell, but 
without effect except that the gloom was split by 
the rays of a thousand dancing searchlight beams. 
For miles the sky was light as day, for every search- 
light afloat and ashore streamed upward to the 
heavens and was lost. Then from the bridge of 
every ship rockets and star shells shot upward, 
bursting their fire into the sky. Flares and '* Very " 
signals covered the firth with a bright red glow, 
as the deafening din continued. Floating from 
every fighting top huge flags of the Allies fluttered 
in the breeze, standing out in the searchlight beams 
which focussed on them, banners of victory. Bands 
could be heard above the shouting and the cheers, 
striking out one national anthem after another, 
with a fire they never have possessed before or 
since. For even the voices of men had lost their 
sanity. 

In the midst of it all I left the ship In a crowded 
fifty-footer. A searchlight caught and followed 
us to the Valiant, of the Fifth Battle Squadron. 
We were cheered to the side and welcomed in arms 
on her quarterdeck, while her band danced wildly 
as it played the Star Spangled Banner. The Amer- 
icans had come to celebrate the victory with those 



"COMRADES OF THE MIST" 169 

who were to have been their comrades in the fight. 
A wild hour of hilarity we spent there, then we 
"shoved off" in a riot of cheers, to the Renown. 
The spirit of that great ship ran wild. In gang- 
dances we shouted gang-songs — captains and mid- 
shipmen, commanders and ensigns all joined to- 
gether as one. We drank toasts to the President, 
toasts to the King, toasts to our Union, and curses 
to the enemy. Far into the night, long after quiet 
had settled on the lower firth, the officers of the 
Grand Fleet carried on their programme. Friend- 
ship and comradeship were so strengthened that 
night, that those who were there will for ever stand 
firm for the brotherhood of the Anglo-Saxon race. 
Together we had toiled, together we had won the 
cause, together in victory we would ever stand. 

Reflecting on this spirit of unity which obtained 
between the officers of the fleet, it seems more and 
more to have resulted from an awakening of under- 
standing. The ^Americans had fostered a distorted 
conception of the British officers, just as they had 
of us. A French staff-officer expressed his feeling 
thus, when asked for his impressions: "We like the 
American officers very much. In fact, they have 
given us a most pleasant surprise. They have not 
displayed the least tendency to show us how to run 
the war. Indeed, they're not in the least Ameri- 
can." That was precicely the sentiment among 
our comrades of the Grand Fleet. They thought 
we were not American because we did not conform 



170 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

to their distorted ideas of Americans. And we 
learned the same of them, for the very persons 
whom we thought would be self-centred "Limys," 
turned out to be the very "salt of the earth." So 
completely did our squadron merge into their fleet 
that we became a part of it and ceased to be held 
as anything else. In our ships we served tea, had 
dinner late, spoke in abbreviations, signalled, 
drilled, and manoeuvred in the British way as 
nearly as we could. In British ships the officers 
were organizing jazz bands, dancing "jazz," using 
our slang, drinking iced drinks, shouting our navy 
yells, and discussing our fire control. The Grand 
Fleet had become no longer that of Britain alone. 
It was the Grand Fleet of the English-speaking 
nations, bound in an enduring brotherhood, that 
sailed to meet the conquered Hun. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE SURRENDER OF THE GERMAN FLEET 

Their dull hulks loom against the gloom 

Of the fog bank's dismal gray. 
Their pace so slow we scarcely know 

The ships are under way. 

The smoke, dead black, creeps from the stack 

And hangs in a listless pall; 
Black standards drape like funeral crepe 

And death lies over all. 

The silent guns of the sullen Huns 

No more their voices use: 
Yet mute, acclaim the burning shame 

Of the High Sea Fleet's last cruise. 

— E. E. Wilson 

ON THE first day of June, 1813, the Ameri- 
can frigate Chesapeake sailed out of Boston 
Harbour under command of Captain 
James Lawrence. The more powerful British frigate 
Shannon under Captain Broke, lay just outside. 
Lawrence at once engaged Broke and the ships fell 
aboard shortly after opening fire. Lawrence fell, 
mortally wounded. As he was carried below 
those clarion words were on his lips that have re- 
sounded through the years — "Don't give up the 
ship!" Spain heard them. Her Admiral Mon- 

171 



172 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODINLAN 

tojo, against overwlielming odds, fought Admiral 
Dewey at Manila Bay until the hist Spanish ship 
had been sunk or destroyed. Russia heard them. 
Admiral INIakarov, commanding the Russian fleet 
at Port Arthur, took his ships to sea in pursuit of 
the Japanese Cruiser Squadron, daring a field of 
electro-mechanical mines which, on his return to 
port, effectively destroyed him. England heard 
them. Admiral Cradock, with three miserable 
cruisers, ran across Von Spec's squadron of five 
ships off Coronel on the coast of Chile. Despite 
every disadvantage Cradock signalled: "I am go- 
ing to engage the enemy now." Von Spec's vic- 
tory was complete, but he captured not a ship ! 

What German knows the dying words of Law- 
rence.'^ 

On the twenty-first day of November, 1918, at 
10:38 A. M., there flashed by wireless from Sir 
David Beatty's flagship Queen Elizabeth^ a signal: 

To Admiralty, from Commander-iu-chief, Grand Fleet. 

The Grand Fleet met this morning at 9:20, five battle 
cruisers, nine battleships, seven light cruisers, and forty- 
nine destroyers of the High Seas Fleet which surrendered for 
internment and are being brought to Firth of Forth. 

Four years had passed. Some hundred thou- 
sand men had waited in vain. Waited, watched, 
served, and striven — in vain. Day after day their 
incessant drills, studies, toils, had brought their 
finished product up to heights unlioped for in the 



SURRENDER OF THE GERMAN FLEET 173 

(lays of peace. Time after time the long lines of 
gray monsters had slipped hopefully out, had 
searched, had tempted, and save once, had cruised 
in vain. 

Small wonder that four a. m. of November 21, 
1918, found few asleep in all the fleet. This 
was the day! No secrecy; no doubt. The world 
knew. The King himself had come but yesterday 
to acclaim the triumph that must be ours to-day. 
Too vast a situation well to comprehend — the 
German High Seas Fleet had sailed from Kiel! 
And the King had come. Hundreds of strangers 
were aboard our ships. A flush of excitement cov- 
ered every face, held back by a forbidding silence 
that seemed to suspend the motion of the very 
earth. 

From early evening long lines of destroyers had 
preceded us to sea, hours and hours of them, out 
of the misty Firth of Forth, followed by envious 
eyes. Every official ship that could turn a screw 
would follow shortly. Shortly! The hours were 
ages long. It was not until two A. m. that the 
greatest day of our lives began. The day of a 
thousand dreams. We seemed to be living within 
a highly inflated bubble, about to burst. The 
American flagship New York broke moor, swung 
slowly with the tide, felt the trobbing of her 
screws, fell into line to lead the Sixth Battle Squad- 
ron to sea. 

Out of the firth; out of the fog. Gray ships in 



174 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

a gray dawn. Ships and ships and ships, as far as 
the eye could see, ahead or astern. Great monsters 
rising and falhng on the incoming swells, by their 
very stateliness acclaiming victory. At four a. m. 
our general alarm clanged harshly against the quiet 
dawn producing on the great ship the same effect 
as a club on a quiet beehive in the summer sun. 
All hands to battle stations! A few moments 
bustling rush — then quiet again. Quite different 
now. Each gun is manned. Every man is at his 
post. The powder bins are filled and shells are 
up. Range finders scan the horizon, and lookouts 
swing their glasses in wide arcs for smoke. Three 
decks below the water line men sit with 'phones, 
tubes, boards, pencils, and strange instruments, 
connected with the conning tower. The plotting 
room. The centre of control of fire. No " Wooden 
Horse of Troy," for Admiral Beatty. Not the 
slightest chance for Hunnish trickery. The des- 
tiny of nations is at stake. He has the German 
guaranties — but he treats them as the German 
would, "Mere scraps of paper." Perhaps they 
seek to take the Grand Fleet unawares .^^ They will 
find them firing deadly salvos thirty seconds after 
the first sign of treachery. The Grand Fleet 
steams on. 

At last dawn comes, blazing red. A low haze 
cuts the visibility to five short miles, but the rising 
sun reveals a new disposition of our forces. Ad- 
miral Beatty has divided his ships into two great 



SURRENDER OF THE GERMAN FLEET 175 

lines — the northern and the southern. These two 
Unes, proceeding on parallel courses, about two 
miles apart, will permit the German fleet to pass 
down their centre. A "Ships right and left 
about" will then bring both lines steaming in in- 
verted order toward the Firth of Forth, the Ger- 
man line between. Either of our lines, without 
the other, could engage the surrendering German 
fleet successfully. 

On we steam at twelve knots to point "X" in the 
North Sea. Eight bells strikes clearly. We know 
the great moment is not far distant now, and by 
the imposing spectacle are reassured. At last: 

"Sail ho!"— from the foretop lookout. "Where 
away?" — from the bridge. "One point off the 
starboard bow," in reply. "Can you make it 
out.f^" "Dense smoke, sir, seems to be approach- 
ing." 

Twenty-five minutes later the tiny light cruiser 
Cardiff, towing a kite balloon, leads the great 
German battle cruiser Seydlitz, at the head of her 
column, between our lines. On they pass — Derf- 
flinger. Von der Tann, Ilindenburg, Moltke — as if 
in review. The low sun glances from their shabby 
sides. Their huge guns, motionless, are trained 
fore and aft. It is the sight of our dreams — a 
sight for kings! Those long, low, sleek-looking 
monsters which we had pictured ablaze with 
spouting flame and fury — steaming like peaceful 
merchantmen on a calm sea. Then the long line 



176 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

of battleships, led by Friedrich der Grosse, flying the 
flag of Admiral von Renter who is in command of 
the whole force. Koenig Albert, Kaiser, Kron- 
prinz Wilhelm, Kaiserin, Bay em, Markgraf, Prinz 
Regent Luitpold, and Grosser Kurfurst followed in 
formation — powerful to look at, dangerous in 
battle, pitiful in surrender. We gaze with wonder 
on this spectacle — the end of four years' vigil; 
the banishment of Germany's sinister dream of 
sea power. This, then, is the end for which the 
Kaiser has lavished his millions on his "incompar- 
able" navy! A navy powerful enough to conquer 
all the navies of the world combined — bar the 
British. But when the British combined with 
all the others against him, that tolled his doom. 
For sea power, slow in its working, must ultimately 
prevail. 

Strangely enough the German surrender lacked 
the thrill of victory. There was the gaping won- 
der of it, the inconceivable that was happening 
before our very eyes — the great German fleet 
steaming helplessly there at our side — conquered. 
Conquered, but not in the spectacular way that 
we would so gladly have given our lives to see. 
The one prevalent emotion, so far as I could as- 
certain, was pity. It carried even to our great 
Commander-in-Chief, who I believe was the least 
thrilled and most disappointed person present. 
In speaking to us after the surrender he remarked : 
*'It was a most disappointing day. It was a piti- 




i5 •= 








o 2 



CAi 



SURRENDER OF THE GERMAN FLEET 177 

fill day, to see those great ships coming in like 
sheep being herded by dogs to their fold, without 
an effort on anybody's part." And no one of his 
audience dissented. They were as helpless as 
sheep. About two hours' vigil satisfied our com- 
manders that such was the case, and we secured 
battle stations. Later investigation showed that 
all our precautions were quite unnecessary. Not 
only had the powder and ammunition been re- 
moved from the German ships, but their range 
finders, gun sights, fire control, and very breech 
blocks as well. They came mere skeletons of their 
former fighting selves in a miserable state of equip- 
ment, upkeep, and repair. For example, in passing 
May Island, at the entrance of the Firth of Forth, 
Admiral Beatty signalled one of the German squad- 
rons to put on 17 knots and close up in formation. 
The reply came to him, "We cannot do better than 
12 knots. Lack lubricating oil." What chance, 
then of a modern engagement where a speed of at 
least 18 knots is sustained? Apparently they were 
no better off for food. Hardly had they anchored 
when the crews turned-to with hook and line to 
catch what they might for dinner! 

Guarded on every side, the German ships entered 
the firth at about three o'clock quietly to drop 
anchor outside the nets. We stood in past them, 
as they rode peacefully to the tide, and on to our 
berths, squadron after squadron, type after type 
until their German eyes must have bulged in awe 



178 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

at such a vast array of power. Last of all came 
the Queen Elizabeth, flagship of the Grand Fleet, 
with Admiral Beatty. Passing the German flag- 
ship he made that now-famous signal: "The Ger- 
man flag will be hauled down at sunset to-day, 
Thursday, and will not be hoisted again without 
permission." The message was accepted and 
obeyed by seventy warships of the German navy. 
It was over. In the sunset the Queen Elizabeth 
with the victorious Beatty passed between our 
lines to her mooring. Three lusty cheers went up 
from each ship as he passed, our colours dipped, 
our guards presenting arms, and our bands strik- 
ing up the national airs. That was the real ex- 
pression of victory. Tears filled the eyes of some. 
Smiles on the faces of others. Victory in the 
hearts of all. For we knew, and the British navy 
knew, and all the world knew, the truth which our 
great Commander-in-Chief so aptly expressed a 
few days later in reply to a message of sympathy: 

We do not want sympathy — we want recognition ! Recog- 
nition of the fact that the prestige of the Grand Fleet stood 
so high that it was sufficient to cause the enemy to surrender 
without striking a blow. 



CHAPTER XII 

HOMEWARD BOUND 

FAREWELL TO THE GRAND FLEET. ADMIRAL BEATTY*S 
ADDRESS. ESCORTING THE PRESIDENT TO FRANCE. RE- 
TURN OF THE AMERICAN OVERSEAS FLEET TO NEW YORK 

Yankee thoughts now homeward fly. 

Far across the sea; 
Christmas in our native land ' 

Beckons you and me. 
Yet our hearts must long retain 
Memories of the message plain: 
"Britain wants you back again. 
Good luck and ' Good-Bye-e-e-e^ I " 

— E. E. Wilson 



T 



" r I "^HE Ninth Division Atlantic Fleet will take 
on stores and proceed soon as possible to 
the United States." From the Chief of 
Naval Operations came this order, via Force 
Commander, on the twenty-second of November, 
1918, the day following the surrender of the Ger- 
man fleet. It came exactly on the date on which 
the New York one year before had sailed from the 
Brooklyn Navy Yard, for war. That message was 
the consummation of a thousand dreams and hopes 
and fears. It spread through the ship like wild- 
fire, sending brains awhirl; but it came as the cli- 
max of a week so dizzily confusing that it scarcely 

179 



180 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

moved a countenance. The men had become set 
for anything and took their good news calmly. 
One month before, that message would have made 
a veritable madhouse of Rodman's flagship. 

A week of preparation was considered necessary, 
for three months' provisions and all spare parts 
must be aboard each ship. The rush continued 
for two days, then the bright vision of "New York 
for Christmas" faded, faded. Our orders home 
were modified. The war at sea had ended, but 
we had one further duty to perform. Our Com- 
mander-in-Chief, the President, was about to sail 
for France, and we must form his escort into 
Brest. With the relief squadron of American 
battleships which had recently arrived and based 
at Queenstown, Ireland, we were ordered to pro- 
ceed to Portland, England, there to await the Pres- 
ident's arrival and escort his ship to Brest. Our 
date of leaving the Grand Fleet remained the same, 
but the date of our arrival home came perilously 
near Christmas. 

Our last week with the Grand Fleet at Rosyth 
may easily be called the most impressive. Not 
even the joy at prospect of our homegoing could 
wipe away the touch of sadness that hung over 
every gathering that week. There were dinners and 
dances and teas and games ashore and afloat, each 
bearing the aspect of farewell. We realized more 
deeply, day by day, how fully the bond of com- 
radeship between our forces had been developed. 



HOMEWARD BOUND 181 

I shall long remember Thanksgiving Day which 
happened to fall just at that time. Admiral 
Leveson gave a luncheon at noon in his flagship, 
Barham of the Fifth Battle Squadron. He used the 
largest round table I have ever seen, at which were 
seated some thirty officers and ladies. I had many 
qualms at being the only "two-striper" in the 
cabin, but perhaps enjoyed the situation all the 
more because of it. Admiral Rodman had just 
returned from London in fine spirits, while Admiral 
Leveson vindicated his own jolly reputation. Im- 
mediately after luncheon the party embarked en 
masse to the King George V, on whose canopied 
quarterdeck a dance given for the New York was in 
progress. It was a delightful affair, elaborate yet 
not too formal. After dancing until nine, some of 
us stayed for dinner with Admiral De Robeck who 
flies his flag of the Fourth Division from the King 
George V. Nor was that all; for we gathered again 
to a special orchestra and danced into the morning 
hours. On the following day, Friday, the decks 
of the New York were the scene of the farewell party 
of the Sixth Battle Squadron to the Grand Fleet. 
It took the form of a huge reception and dance, 
employing the entire main deck. Awnings stretched 
from stem to stern, covering a bower of lanterns, 
flags and greens. Literally in thousands came the 
guests, who marvelled at the "air fountains," 
made with streamers in the blowers, the electri- 
cal display, the four orchestras, and lastly but 



182 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN ^ 

very emphatically, the American punch and ices. 
Never had the New York shown to better advan- 
tage, for knowing this to be our final impression 
upon the Grand Fleet, nothing had been spared 
for its success. The day was planned and exe- 
cuted Rodman fashion. Many of the guests de- 
clared the party was a revelation, and I believe it 
will remain in the memory of the Grand Fleet for 
years. To conclude the day, a party of us dined 
with the Hon. Captain and Mrs. Plunkett-Drax at 
Pitraevie Castle, their home in Dumfermline. 
Late we visited the Queen Elizabeth to say farewell, 
thence to the ship. Saturday evening, in the 
junior officers' mess, we did some farewell entertain- 
ing of our own. It was our last night. We con- 
verted the messroom into a bower of bunting and 
greens, which, with coloured lighting effects, be- 
wildered even those who were familiar with the 
place. Admiral Leveson, Admiral Rodman and 
three captains were among our guests, with Grand 
Fleet ladies making fifteen couples. The jazz 
band, playing its very jazziest, kept up the life and 
dancing till the hour when the last farewells per- 
force were said. The strength of the ties of our 
friendships were never fully realized until the time 
of parting came. 

I was wakened in the morning by the rumbling 
anchor cables. We were heaving short, on this 
forenoon of December first, being under orders 
to weigh anchor at eleven forty-five and proceed to 



HOMEWARD BOUND 183 

Portland, England. Admiral Rodman left the 
ship, paid his respects to the Commander-in-Chief 
in the Queen Elizabeth^ and returned to his flagship. 
A signal brought the captains of our squadron's 
ships to the New York's quarterdeck, while at the 
same time a number of the flag officers and com- 
manding officers of the Grand Fleet arrived in- 
formally to pay their respects. A great fleet of 
little steamers and launches had gathered at our 
side, having left aboard our best friends from the 
fleet. At exactly eleven o'clock, in the midst of 
these mutual expressions of comradeship, the 
shining black barge of the Commander-in-Chief 
was hailed approaching. Admiral Sir David 
Beatty was piped over the side and received by 
eight officer side boys. Admiral Rodman and his 
staff, the captains of the ships of the Sixth Battle 
Squadron and the officers of the New York. At 
his request all hands were called to muster on the 
forecastle, where, raised in their midst, the lead- 
er of the Grand Fleet made his now famous fare- 
well remarks: 

I could not let the Sixth Battle Squadron go without 
coming on board the New York and saying something of 
what I feel at this moment of your departure. I had in- 
tended to ask Admiral Rodman to permit me to say some- 
thing to representatives of all the ships of the Sixth Battle 
Squadron on board his flagship, but exigencies of service 
have not permitted me to do that; and, therefore, as Admiral 
Rodman has said, what I say to you I hope you will pro- 



184 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

mulgate to your comrades in the other ships, and not only 
to them, but also to your comrades of the Atlantic Fleet. 

There is not much that I have to say, but what I do say I 
hope you will understand comes from the heart — not only 
my heart, but the hearts of your comrades of the Grand 
Fleet. 

I want first of all, to thank you, Admiral Rodman, the 
captains, officers, and ships' companies of this magnificent 
squadron for the wonderful cooperation and loyalty you have 
given to me and to my admirals; and the assistance that you 
have given us in every duty you had to undertake. The 
support which you have shown is that of true comradeship; 
and, in time of stress, that is worth a very great deal. As 
somebody said the other day, " The fighting is now over, the 
talking is now going to begin"; therefore, I do not want to 
keep you here any longer, but I want to congratulate you 
for having been present upon a day which is unsurpassed 
in the naval annals of the world. I know quite well that you, 
as well as all of your British comrades, were bitterly disap- 
pointed at not being able to give effect to that efficiency that 
you have so well maintained. It was a most disappointing 
day. It was a pitiful day, to see those great ships coming in 
like sheep being herded by dogs to their fold, without an 
effort on anybody's part; but it was a day that everybody 
could be proud of. I have received messages from several 
people, offering sympathy to the Grand Fleet, and my an- 
swer was that we do not want sympathy — we want recog- 
nition of the fact that the prestige of the Grand Fleet stood 
so high that it was sufficient to cause the enemy to surrender 
without striking a blow. I had always certain misgivings, 
and when the Sixth Battle Squadron became a part of the 
Grand Fleet those misgivings were doubly strengthened, 
and I knew then they would throw up their hands. Appar- 
ently, the Sixth Battle Squadron was the straw that broke 
the camel's back. However, the disappointment that the 



HOMEWARD BOUND 185 

Grand Fleet was not able to strike its blow for the freedom 
of the world is counteracted by the fact that it was their 
prestige alone that brought about this achievement. 

During the last twelve months that you have been with 
us we have learned to know each other very well; we have 
learned to respect each other; we know each other's faults. — 
Are there any in the Sixth Battle Squadron, Admiral.? — 
We know each other's good qualities, and I want you to take 
back a message to the Atlantic Fleet that you have left a 
place, a very warm place, in the hearts of the Grand Fleet 
which cannot be filled until you come back or send another 
squadron to represent you. You have given us a sample 
of the Atlantic Fleet which I think will try the Atlantic 
Fleet, efficient as it is, very hard to reproduce. — I do not 
know what Admiral Mayo will say to that, but Admiral 
Rodman will put it up to him in that way. 

I understand that you are now going down to Portland, 
where you are going to get leave — that is so. Admiral, Is it 
not? After that, you have a duty to perform, of bringing 
your president to these waters; and then you will return to 
your own shores; and I hope in the sunshine, which Admiral 
Rodmen tells me always shines there, you won't forget your 
"comrades of the mist" and your pleasant associations of the 
North Sea. This is a queer place, as you have found out; 
but you are not the first to find it out. There was a great 
explorer, Marco Polo, who, after travelling over the world 
for thirty years, one day found himself in the North Sea, and 
then went home, went to bed, and did not travel any more. 
I trust it will not have the same effect on any of you. But 
I can say this for you that those of you that I have seen dur- 
ing the last twelve months seem to have Improved in many 
ways, if it was possible; and I think that the North Sea has a 
health-giving quality which must be put against all the bad 
points, of which there are so many. 

I thank you again, again and again, for the great part the 



186 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

Sixth Battle Squadron has played in bringing about the 
greatest naval victory in history. I hope you will give this 
message to your comrades. Come back soon. Good-bye 
and good luck ! 

A great shout broke from the men who were 
packed below him, as the solid ranks of blue which 
had stood immobile to catch each word from his 
clear ringing voice, became a surging, cheering 
mass. Their love for the great Sir David Beatty 
needed no further demonstration. Admiral Rod- 
man, in a few well-chosen words, replied to Admiral 
Beatty's speech, reciprocating heartily his senti- 
ments. He closed by leading three more rousing 
cheers for Admiral Beatty. 

The decks of the Grand Fleet's ships were packed 
with humanity. Not alone were there the sailors 
of the ships' companies, but boatload after boat- 
load of people from the shore had come aboard the 
ships which lined our channel to the sea. The 
Sixth Battle Squadron weighed anchor, broke from 
Its maintops long streaming "homeward-bound" 
pennants and proceeded out of harbour. Our 
band burst forth with "Homeward Bound" and 
followed it with "Good Bye-e-e." Cheers were 
exchanged with every vessel as we passed between 
the columns, while their bands played our airs and 
messages of comradeship and good luck floated in 
a score of different versions from as many yard- 
arms. Nor was that the end. The New York, 
followed by the Texas, Nevada, Arkansas, Wyom- 



HOMEWARD BOUND 187 

ing and Florida in column, was escorted to May 
Island, twenty miles outside, by the ships of the 
Fifth Battle Squadron, our sister division, and the 
Eleventh Destroyer Flotilla. The Barharriy Admiral 
Leveson's flagship, and the Malaya steamed to 
starboard, with the Valiant and Warspite to port. 
The destroyers took up a screening formation 
ahead and astern. There was music and cheering 
nearly all the way, culminating as we approached 
May Island. The British units turned gracefully 
outward, swinging through 180 degrees. There 
was a sustained roar of cheers as the great ships 
parted from us, and the signal force was put to it 
in the rapid exchange of felicitous messages. From 
the masthead of Admiral Leveson's Barham was 
displayed at the last the plain English hoist 
"G-O-O-D B-Y-E-E-E-E." Simultaneously a 
message was received by radio from the Comman- 
der-in-Chief, Grand Fleet: 

Your comrades in the Grand Fleet regret your departure. 
We trust it is only temporary and that the interchange of 
squadrons from the two great fleets of the Anglo-Saxon race 
may be repeated. We wish you good-bye, good luck, a good 
time; and come back soon. 

Thus impressively were the wartime relations of 
the Allied navies terminated. Fondly we looked 
at the last of our Grand Fleet days, but the tinge 
of parting regret was soon forgotten as we turned 



188 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

our faces north and eastward — faces which plainly 
bore the lines, 

Yankee thoughts now homeward fly 

Far across the sea; 
Christmas in our native land 

Beckons you and me. 
Yet our hearts must long retain 
Memories of the message plain: 
"Britain wants you back again. 
Good luck and ' Good-Bye-e-e-e' ! " 

The mine fields in the channels made the south- 
ern route unsafe to Portland. We were obliged to 
cruise around the northern end of Scotland 
through the Pentland Firth, between the mainland 
and the Hebrides, thence through the Irish Sea to 
Land's end. The squadron ran through heavy 
weather off the northwest coast, but otherwise the 
trip seemed child's play. All navigational guides 
had been relighted, vessels carried running lights 
and we could use searchlights and radio. Our 
course lay over the watery graves of the Justicia 
and Lancaster Castle, the horrors of which stood 
sharply in contrast with the now plentiful mer- 
chantmen which peacefully plied above them. 
Rounding Land's End on a clear crisp morning, 
we were soon guided into the crowded harbour of 
Portland by a pilot tug sent out to meet us. There 
we joined the Arizona, Oklahoma and Utah, the 
remainder of the escort for the President. The 
Drifter Patrol Fleet of the Western Channel, hun- 



HOMEWARD BOUND 189 

dreds strong, lay behind the strong defenses, as 
yet undispersed. In the harbour there was scarcely 
clearance space to swing, which kept a lively watch 
for officers of the deck. Several of the officers 
left at once for London, and the men were given 
general leave. Most of us preferred to save our 
time for future use, however, pending our return. 
We used the week for coaling, cleaning, preparing. 
With a party of four I spent two days at Charbor- 
ough Park, in Dorset, the seventeen-thousand acre 
estate of Captain Drax, at pheasant shooting. The 
captain had arranged for this while we were in the 
north, and made conditions quite ideal. We were 
furnished with a guide, six "beaters," dogs and 
food, and permitted to beat the best covers. An 
idea of the plenty of the game may be formed by 
realizing that this was the first shoot since the out- 
break of the war. In all we took forty-nine phea- 
sants, fifteen hares, nineteen rabbits, and four 
ducks, no mean bag considering the grade of our 
shooting. English shooting is so different from 
our hunting, that an experience with their game is 
well worth while. 

All leave and liberty parties returned on Decem- 
ber 12th and busied themselves securing for sea. 
Admiral Sims had come from London, taking the 
Wyoming for his flagship, and assumed the lead 
of both divisions as formation guide. Rain and 
mist enshrouded our departure but did not detract 
from the full salute of a regiment of Australian 



190 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

troops drawn up on the mole. Each ship re- 
sponded, accompanied by the British anthem. We 
caught our last glimpse of England as the granite 
cliffs of Portland faded in the mist astern. At dawn 
we rounded Ushant, the northwest point of France 
and slowed to ten knots. In spite of being "Friday 
the Thirteenth" we looked forward to a great day. 
Just at eight bells our hopes were realized when we 
caught sight of the flagship Pennsylvania leading 
the President's George Washington; and at once we 
proceeded to create a new formation. 

Such a tribute no American leader has ever been 
paid. Think of the weight of circumstances, the 
power of the individual, whose coming to a foreign 
land should warrant as his escort the cream of the 
American navy ! It was inspiring to look upon the 
massive freeboard of the George Washington loom- 
ing against the low sleek sides of five great seafight- 
ers on either side, cruising at perfect interval and 
shielded by a full screen of destroyers. Each ship 
fired the twenty-one gun presidential salute as she 
took her place in line and settled on her course to 
Brest. The clear and moderate morning pictur- 
esquely set off this historic incident. The President's 
ship followed the squadron into Brest, and passing 
down between our columns, anchored amid salutes 
and cheers from the thousands who lined the 
shores. Detailed ashore to arrange for the land- 
ing of boats, etc., I found the city of Brest an ex- 
cited pageant, waiting to greet the man whom the 



HOMEWARD BOUND 191 

French held almost as a saviour, President Wilson 
of the United States. They had seen his country 
honour him with her armada for an escort; and 
now impatiently awaited that historic, precedent- 
breaking moment when our President should set 
his foot on the soil of France, that they might do 
their share. Bands, flags, troops, guards, confetti 
and a riotous mob were the features of the town 
that afternoon, and when at four o'clock the Presi- 
dent shoved off for shore the carnival broke loose. 
In a riot of cheers and roar of guns and whistles he 
landed, met by General Pershing and ten thousand 
eager citizens. To these the President delivered 
a brief address before he hurriedly left for Paris; 
but the spirit of the day was carried far into the 
night long after his departure. The bonds of com- 
radeship created by the heartfelt gratitude of 
France to the United States, expressed thus to its 
leader, seemed enough, to those who saw and felt 
them, to justify the visit of our President abroad. 

Next morning found the gobs aboard ship surg- 
ing and shouting in their joy. We were to leave 
for home. Original orders had been changed 
again by the wisdom of Admiral Rodman who had 
radioed : 

At the request of the crews who have served in the North 
Sea for the past year without leave or recreation, it is earn- 
estly recommended that the battleships under my command 
proceed directly to New York for leave before assignment to 
home yards. 



192 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

So we were off, this time, not to drop anchor 
until we reached New York. Aboard each ship 
was a detachment of about five hundred troops 
which we were transporting back with their offi- 
cers. They crowded the crew considerably, but 
no complaints were heard. At two o'clock that 
afternoon I stood far up in the bow. Four flags 
ran up the Pennsylvania's halyards which, trans- 
lated, read *'Get under way." Word came from 
the bridge, and the thrill was mine to press the but- 
ton that started the anchor engine hauling in! A 
cheer went up as the homeward-bound pennant 
again broke loose and floated out six hundred feet 
astern. At the head of the Sixth Battle Squadron 
we took our place, turned toward the setting sun 
and passed by Ushant Head before the glow had 
left the west. Our course home lay by the south- 
ern route, making the Azores our next landfall. 
On the first day out we encountered the only heavy 
weather of the voyage. It was enough to wet 
us down thoroughly and give the gobs the sport of 
laughing at the seasick soldiers. A week so per- 
fect followed, in the balmy southern air, that we 
could scarcely believe it possible after living in the 
North Sea. The deep blue of the cloudless sky 
and crystal water seemed to throw a soft fight 
everywhere. We sighted San Miguel, the north- 
east island of the Azores, forty miles away; and 
two days later picked up Pico, that great volcanic 
peak which rises seven thousand feet sheer from 



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HOMEWARD BOUND 19S 

the fathomless sea to form the westerly extreme. 
Pico when first reported visible was sixty miles 
away! Each evening we were able to have "mov- 
ies" in the open air on deck, much to the delight 
of the crew. The squadron, following us with all 
lights burning seemed to shine like a Christmas 
tree to us who had strained for a year to catch even 
a glimpse of its war-time blackness. Drills of all 
sorts were conducted daily and the ship made 
scrupulously clean. We reached the Gulf Stream 
on the twentieth and in its warm and sticky air 
had word that all New York awaited our arrival on 
the twenty-fourth, when we would be reviewed 
afloat and on parade, and then sent home for 
Christmas day. It seemed as though our fearful 
hopes would after all be realized. 

Next day came a staggering blow to the entire 
squadron. For some reason which has never been 
explained, a radio from Secretary Daniels ordered 
that we should not arrive on schedule, but on the 
twenty-sixth instead. So we slowed to twelve 
knots' speed. Picture the anguish of those hun- 
dreds of lads who had been counting above all else 
on a home Christmas! At one time they arose in 
a serious threat of laying down their jobs, and only 
perfect unity avoided such catastrophe. The New 
York papers flashed the headlines of the fleet held 
up by winter gales, while we were out there poking 
along in a dead calm. This blunder happened at 
the very time when the navy was trying to induce 



194 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODIVIAN 

the reserves to remain within its ranks, and to en- 
courage reenhstment of the regulars; and in one 
night every sailor on the New York vowed himself 
through at the first opportunity. Nor could a 
single officer be found who would not agree with 
the men that they had had a raw deal. It was a 
different cruise from that day on, the spirit gone 
from drills and work, with grumbling from every 
corner on ships which were marking time until 
arrival. To cap the climax we sighted the Jersey 
coast on Christmas morning, caught a tempting 
glimpse of that glorious land we had seen in our 
dreams for months, longed to set foot ashore that 
day, but instead proceeded to Ambrose Channel 
lightship and dropped anchor thirty miles from 
Broadway! Christmas dinner and a wild demon- 
stration by all hands gave little consolation, and 
the ship slept early, brooding on the morrow. 

Sullen skies and a high-hanging mist marked the 
early hours of the day. The squadron anchored 
off the Ambrose lightship got but a chill welcome 
from the weather. Snow and a nipping wind ob- 
scured from the thousands of eager persons who 
lined the lower bay the fact that their fleet was 
standing in. The sky was gray and the ships 
were gray and there was enough of fog between the 
snow squalls to hide everything more than slightly 
distant. But those who knew the navy knew that 
out there in the bay the great fleet must be moving, 
for their review was scheduled at ten a. m. Five 



HOMEWARD BOUND 195 

minutes before that time the guiding Gloucester's 
kite balloon was sighted from the Mayflower, 
which lay below the Statue of Liberty. At ten 
o'clock, the Arizona, leading the homecoming 
line, passed in review. Slowly the Sixth Battle 
Squadron steamed northward with its escort of 
great oil burners, and passed before the Secretary 
of the Navy on the Mayfloicer. As each ship drew 
abreast his vessel the Secretarial salute of nine- 
teen guns roared from its battery, and from the 
main topmast of each Sixth Squadron ship the 
homeward-bound pennant was broken anew to 
stream astern. Rows of black figures lined the 
ships, rigid at attention. They filled each port 
and every platform, for who would miss the sight 
of New York Harbour? These were the gobs who, 
despite their ships were scarless. Secretary Daniels 
rightly hailed as "valiant victors." It was the 
greatest naval review in American history, for it 
marked the day of the formal assumption by the 
United States of its place as the second naval power 
of the world. The entire Atlantic Fleet had joined 
the Sixth Battle Squadron for its return, exliibiting 
the greatest fighting force of which the United 
States had ever boasted, assembled for the first 
time as a single unit. 

The swirling snowstorm which had enveloped 
us in the lower bay lifted suddenly as the dread- 
naughts slowly passed the thousands of specta- 
tors on Riverside Drive, and a great triumphant 



196 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

roar of welcome arose as the huge anchors plunged 
to the river depths. For the first time in thirteen 
months those anchors found a home port, and the 
cheers that went up from our own decks were heart- 
felt. Within two hours the complement of every 
ship was lined in dress blues on the New York 
streets for the great parade of welcome. Ten 
thousand strong they swung down Fifth Avenue, 
in a din of cheers beneath a canopy of bunting, 
headed by Admirals Mayo and Rodman with their 
staffs. Then the majority were free men for the 
night. Broadway welcomed the bluejackets with 
open arms. They were dined in the restaurants 
and entertained at the theatres. Some just 
marched the streets. Wherever they went they 
were heartily cheered and wherever an officer 
went he was openly congratulated. A carnival 
prevailed throughout New York, for the people 
felt the spirit which Admiral Rodman expressed 
that night, saying: 

After a year of strenuous and arduous duty, but duty which 
was most eagerly and gladly performed, our ships have 
reached home across the ocean, not darkened and zig-zagging 
to avoid danger from hostile forces, but with a blaze of lights 
turned on and a feeling of perfect security and confidence; 
and, needless to add, with hearts full of happiness and con- 
tentment that we are once more at home in God's country, 
having contributed our mite to the winning of the war. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE SINKING OF THE GERMAN FLEET 

The moving finger writes, and having writ 

Moves on, nor all your piety nor wit 
Can lure it hack to cancel half a line. 

Nor all your tears wash out a word of it. 

—Anon. 

IN THIS strangest of all the world's wars, in 
which empires have crumbled to dust and 
republics sprung into being from nothing, in 
which governments of centuries have been crushed 
by a single hand and dynasties have perished over 
night; we have stood as if transfixed, ready for any- 
thing. And when steamers have been captured 
by seaplanes, airships by destroyers; when sub- 
marines and infantry have alike been destroyed 
by fire from the air, any wonder has seemed not 
impossible. Yet suppose some one had entered 
the mess room of the New York on the twenty -first 
of June, 1918, had listened intently to the never- 
ending discussion of conjectures and opinions as to 
the impending encounter of the Grand Fleet with 
the High Seas Fleet, to the assertions of the tre- 
mendous and constant improvement in strength 
and efficiency of the Grand Fleet, to the problems 
in tactics and fire control which were consuming 

197 



198 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

the minds of thousands and the dollars of millions; 
suppose he had listened to those absorbing topics of 
the day and had then said, "Gentlemen, why do 
you worry? A year from to-day the German 
High Seas Fleet will be lying at the bottom of 
Scapa Flow, in the very mud which grips your an- 
chors to-night, and your Grand Fleet shall not 
have fired a shot to bring this end about." 

To grasp the surrender of the great High Seas 
Fleet without a struggle would have been beyond 
the minds of most of us — of all of us, I think, if 
placed within a year. But to conceive of that 
intact fleet of mighty fighting ships, lying at the 
bottom of Scapa Flow would not have been at- 
tempted. We could not have entertained such 
thoughts as these with logic. We knew of no such 
code. We did not know the German. 

The charm of the Orkney Islands lies in their rest- 
fulness rather than their grandeur. The landscape 
does not overwhelm the beholder with a sense of his 
insignificance, as great mountains are apt to do, 
but rather suggests quiet and peace. To the Grand 
Fleet, through its four years of direst strain, they 
were a home. For the men and ships of the fleet, 
after unending hours of battle with the havoc which 
is wrought by the North Sea winter gales, and the 
tense anxiety which the imminence of undersea 
attack creates, a haven of rest could always be 
found in Scapa Flow, that great natural basin, 
landlocked in the heart of the Orkney Islands. 



THE SINKING OF THE GERMAN FLEET 199 

There, behind its layers of nets and fields of mines, 
backed by an untiring scout patrol, the Grand Fleet 
could lie in peace, serene and safe. Majestically 
the great ships blended with the quiet landscape, 
always steaming, always ready, mingling a sense 
of dignity with power. 

Few hostile eyes, if any, have observed the Fleet 
at Scapa Flow. It lay in a world apart. The na- 
tives on its shores remained there. No person 
was allowed to come to them unknown. The 
British Government supplied both islanders and 
ships with food and commodities. A rigid censor- 
ship was maintained at all times and a patrol kept 
guard about the islands day and night through 
four long years. What better war base could 
have been selected.'^ Its solitude made for work 
without distraction. Its location blocked the 
passage from the North Sea to the ocean. Of 
course the officers and men throughout the fleet 
soon came to dread their stays at Scapa, for its 
utter lack of diversion, amusement, and civiliza- 
tion wore on the stoutest hearts. Only a realiza- 
tion of the need of isolation kept the Grand Fleet 
spirits up through the long bleak winter months 
at Scapa Flow. Cheerfully they stuck it out. 

Then, with the vision of Scapa Flow indelibly 
before the commanders of the Grand Fleet, the 
German High Seas Fleet surrendered for intern- 
ment. No longer needed as a Grand Fleet base, 
what better prison could be found for the surren- 



200 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

dered foe. It might almost as well be solitary 
confinement, for there the German ships and 
crews would be free from outside German treach- 
ery and could be held at practically no cost. So 
the surrendered ships were led there, one division 
at a time, with the British ensign floating over them, 
and left in the peace and desolation of this deser- 
ted haven, stripped of their armaments, fuel, 
instruments, and all but a few of their crew, to 
brood upon their utter failure. 

Admiral von Renter, aboard the Grand Fleet's 
Flagship, Queen Elizabeth, in November, 1918, 
stood before Sir David Beatty. In reply to that 
clause in the surrender terms which demanded that 
the flag of Germany should be hauled down when 
her ships were laid up at a British base, he pro- 
tested that it "was not in keeping with the idea of 
chivalry between two honourable opponents" that 
their flag should be hauled down. Admiral Beatty 
pointed out that war existed during the Armistice, 
and therefore "under the circumstances no enemy 
vessel can be permitted to fly its national ensign 
in British waters while under custody.'* And so 
our "honourable opponent" surrenders and hauls 
down his flag, is led to Scapa Flow, stripped of all 
save skeleton crews, and left under light guard to 
await the issue. 

One day the British squadron on guard steams 
out to the Pentland Firth for practice exercises. 
Here the "honourable opponent" sees his chance to 




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The decks of the surrendered German "U" boats 




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THE SINKING OF THE GERMAN FLEET 201 

execute one final underhanded deed in violation 
of the terms to which he pledged himself. Weird 
sights await the returning British squadron. Do 
their eyes deceive them? What are those violent 
explosive shocks? Why does that strange cloud 
of steam rise up from the surface of Scapa Flow? 
Breathlessly, unwilling to believe their eyes, they 
crash full speed ahead and cleave the waves to 
reach their custody. No longer the peaceful haven 
of rest do they find in Scapa, but a wild chaotic 
turmoil. Here a ship's prow points skyward as her 
stern sinks rapidly. There a great pair of screws 
dance aimlessly between them a rudder, in mid-air. 
Again, a hiss of steam and a muffled roar as boiler 
bursts beneath its icy plunge. Great monster ships, 
millions of dollars in steel alone, lurch sleepily on 
their sides and disappear. The British squadron 
halts in awe. Can it be true? The German flag 
in Scapa Flow? Yes, and true enough more than 
enough! Crews rowing off from the sinking ships 
awake the echoes with arrogant "Hochs!" A 
nasty business, a grotesque scene! The British 
ships fully aroused and aware of venomous treach- 
ery, dash in to check what has already passed 
beyond control. They call on their prisoners in 
the boats to stop. Some do. Others hesitate, 
and are fired upon, point blank. A few examples 
and the rest are meek enough; for they are Ger- 
mans. Orders flash to the German ships which 
are still floating to jam the sea cocks, stop the 



202 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

sinking! Here and there a group of sailors at- 
tempt to execute the orders of their British cap- 
tors, and are shot at once by their own officers. 
To capture every one of the underhanded dogs is 
the only solution, which the British set about and 
do, too late of course to save the flooding ships. 
Here and there a boatload of German sailors 
makes the shore, and with all belongings on their 
backs they make for freedom. Freedom! They 
are on an island of the Orkneys, despised cast- 
aways. A few hours hounding by a British de- 
tachment and all are rounded up, a sorry lot indeed. 
Another chapter added to their villainy, and still 
the bloody German head remains unbowed. 

Admiral von Renter, having accomplished what 
his proud countrymen are wont to call a "hand- 
some deed," attempts to justify his act by attaching 
to the word "interned" a meaning it was never in- 
tended to convey in the text of the armistice. He 
forgets that the fleet which might have gone down 
fighting preferred to be branded with the undying 
disgrace of a cowardly surrender. He goes so 
far as to create a state of warfare with his conquer- 
ers while they were dictating the terms of peace to 
his whipped country. Breaking his worthless 
German pledges without a qualm, he orders that 
his disarmed battle fleet, of which he was the care- 
taker, be sunk at anchor while the British guards 
are out for practice exercises. And his perverted 
German mind imagines that this sneaking act will 



THE SINKING OF THE GERMAN FLEET 203 

redound to the glory of the German navy as a 
show of martial spirit and defiance. He has con- 
fused his base dishonour with a gallant death in 
battle on ships which by his order refuse to yield. 

The wave of indignation with which the nation 
greeted the news of the sinking of the German fleet 
is well voiced by the New York Times. "The 
British are right when they say the handsome 
deed was a 'deliberate violation of the armistice' 
and 'treachery.' But whatever the scuttling may 
be called, it reacts with the effect of infamy upon 
the German name. The admiral orders his fleet 
sunk as an act of war, and then hoists the white 
flag on the boat he escapes in to induce the foe 
defied to save his sailors from drowning. German 
oflScers shoot down seamen who obey a British 
order to close the open valves, and these same 
oflScers, safe on British decks, click their heels to- 
gether and salute one another with a feeling of 
having done a historic thing that would ring 
through the ages and shed unfading lustre upon 
German arms. Human nature, in this case racial, 
is poor indeed that demeans itself so shamefully." 

Who is to blame? It is the natural question 
rising in the throat of nearly every man as he indig- 
nantly reads of this climactic scandal. To answer 
it is neither just nor wise. We are men of a nation 
whose code is honour, whose traditions are honour- 
able, whose acts in war are chivalrous. We have seen 
the treachery of the German code to be sure, and 



204 BEATTY, JELLICOE, SIMS, AND RODMAN 

so, when dealing with him, use the utmost care, and 
sheathe our weapon only when he is disarmed and 
powerless. But it is not even yet in our nature to 
imagine that the German mind will resort to the 
extremes of infamy. We are naturally inclined 
to treat with them as men, when utterly disarmed 
and given over to our care. And so the tangible 
blame for the sinking of the German ships lies with 
our failure to realize that the racial German nature, 
in victory or defeat, is utterly without honour, 
without scruple, without shame. 

The case of Admiral von Renter should be used 
as an example. For his deliberate violation of 
the terms of the armistice and the destruction of 
millions of dollars' worth of ships which were no 
longer the property of Germany, he should be tried 
by an Allied tribunal. His act and its retribution 
should be so flaunted before the German people, 
whose standards of right and wrong are so hope- 
lessly confused, that the idea would finally dawn 
upon them that the deed was not "handsome" but 
infamous. To claim the fleet well sunk evades the 
question. Ton for ton the German ships destroyed 
in Scapa Flow should be replaced from German ship- 
yards to the Allies, such increase being added to the 
German reparation bill. That would send home the 
sentiment with which we meet such villainy. For 
the loss is not so definite in material as is the injury 
to the Allied pride in honour. 

THE END 




THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS 
GARDEN CITY. N. T. 



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